And in the end
by piratewench78
Summary: This is my perspective on what happens after the finale, starting with the argument in the I will add chapters based on the perspectives of different characters and how I think this might play out over
1. Chapter 1

**This is my take on what happens after the finale, starting with the argument in the car. I have written this from the point of view of what I **_**think**_** could happen. There will be multiple chapters to this story. Any feedback is welcome and appreciated.**

Rayna was sitting with Marshall at The Bluebird for Juliette's memorial for her mother. It had been raining on the way over, but had stopped by the time she arrived. She had looked for Deacon, but he wasn't there. She was desperate to talk to him. He wasn't returning her calls and she was really worried about him. She kept checking the door and, as Juliette started singing, she finally saw him come in. She got up and quickly moved towards him. He saw her and walked out. She chased after him into the parking lot.

"Hey!"

"Leave me alone."

"Come here."

"Go away." He kept walking.

"No, come here, I wanna talk to you!" She caught up to him as he got into his SUV.

"Leave me alone, Rayna."

"Come on, please talk to me. Come on, babe." She reached for him.

He pulled away. "God, Rayna, please go back inside!"

Rayna quickly moved to the open door so he couldn't close it. There was the unmistakable smell of whiskey. "Are you drunk?"

Deacon leaned back in the seat. "Go back inside." He put his keys into the ignition.

Rayna got angry. "Slide over, right now! I'm not letting you drive."

Deacon's rage grew. "Damn it, Rayna, let me go!" He tried pushing her away, but she was able to move him over, with less resistance than she expected. She quickly slid into the driver's seat and then reached across him to pull down the seat belt. Then she fastened her own and started the car, backing out of the parking space. At first, she said nothing, concentrating on getting out of the parking lot and on calming her own frazzled nerves. She could feel Deacon glaring at her, but she didn't care. If this was the only way she could reach him, this would just have to do. They had to talk, even if, by the time she got him to his house, she had to call a cab to take her home.

After they were on the road, she finally spoke. "I can't believe I'm doing this again. Dragging you out of someplace drunk."

"I didn't ask you to do that, Rayna. In fact, I told you to leave me alone."

"Seriously, Deacon? You've been avoiding me since the CMA's. You can't avoid me forever."

"Sure I can."

"No, you can't." She concentrated on breathing. He concentrated on drinking from a bottle he pulled from the floor board. "Deacon, we have to talk about this. I know you're mad. I get it. But we have got to talk."

"I don't wanna talk to you, Rayna. I don't have to talk to you."

"Then don't talk. Just listen." Deacon turned away and looked out the passenger window. Rayna took a deep breath. "Look, I understand that you're angry with me. But I want a chance to explain."

Deacon turned back to look at her with an angry glare. "Explain what? Why you lied to me for 13 years? Why you let me play the fool for 13 years?"

"You weren't playing the fool, Deacon. But you know what? Looking at you right now, I don't know if I did the wrong thing. Is this what you would have done if I'd told you before? Gone out and gotten wasted instead of trying to figure this thing out?"

"Were you ever going to tell me, Rayna? Did you think you could go on pretending forever?"

Rayna quickly wiped away tears. "I hadn't really thought it out that far, to be honest. I think one day I knew the truth would have to be told." She glanced quickly at Deacon, who was staring angrily out the front window. "I was wrong. I should have told you before."

"Yes, you should have," Deacon screamed at her. "You know, I thought you loved me. And I thought we were friends. People who love and care about each other don't lie to each other! Especially about something this important!"

"I didn't lie to you, Deacon, I just didn't tell you."

Deacon leaned towards her. "What's the damn difference, Ray? You had a chance every damn day for the last 13 years to tell me Maddie was mine." He took a drink from the bottle. "And you didn't."

"You're sitting there getting wasted, telling me that I was wrong? I get that you're mad, but for you to go out and get wasted as your response? Damn, Deacon, can't you see why I made the decision I did?" Rayna was getting irritated now and she was mad at herself for not being able to control the tears as well as the emotion in her voice.

"That's just bullshit, Rayna, and you know it. You're not the victim here!"

"So what happened to 'you can tell me everything or you can tell me nothing, it doesn't matter'?"

"Damn it, Rayna, I thought it was something like you slept with Liam, not that you were hiding the fact for the past 13 years that you and I had a daughter! That all this time I was hanging around with you and your kids that one of those girls was my own flesh and blood!" He slammed his fist into the window. "Don't try to act like this isn't a big deal! It's a huge deal!"

Rayna breathed in. "And yet you're getting drunk. That's your response to this. How is that supposed to make me feel about you being a dad to Maddie? I don't want her to have a drunk for a father! That was the whole reason for doing this in the beginning! What are you going to say to her about this?" Deacon was silent. "Deacon, I need you to straighten up. I want us to work through this with Maddie together, but we can't do it if you can't stay sober." Tears threatened her again. "I love you, Deacon. Don't turn away from me. If you don't hear anything else, hear that." Suddenly she reached over to try and grab the bottle away from Deacon.

Just then she saw out of the corner of her eye a car coming across in front of them. She screamed as she swerved to miss the car and then the car started to flip.


	2. Chapter 2

For a few seconds after it was over, everything was quiet. Then car doors slammed on the vehicle that had crossed paths with the SUV. One man yelled frantically "Call 9-1-1! Call 9-1-1!" as he ran towards the overturned vehicle. The woman in the car stood to the side and called. Her two male companions were rushing to the overturned vehicle. Luckily the impact had shattered the windows, making it easier to pull out the two occupants. Not knowing whether or not the SUV might catch fire, there wasn't a second to spare.

The male victim in the vehicle was conscious and had a smell of whiskey on him. As one of the men from the other car reached in to pull him out, he screamed in pain, grabbed at his chest and grimaced, then said "Ray! Where's Ray?" When he was out of the car, he struggled to get up on his feet, but kept falling, in obvious pain. He looked up at the man who had pulled him out, his eyes pained and said, "I don't know if she was breathing. Please get her out." He got up again and stumbled to the other side of the car, where he could see the female victim being pulled out of the other side. As soon as she was out of the car, the man pulling her out stopped and picked her up, not knowing what her injuries were and not wanting to make things worse. She had a bad gash on her forehead and was bleeding. She also was unconscious. He carried her away from the car to a grassy area and knelt down with her.

"Call an ambulance! Please God, call an ambulance!" The male victim looked nearly crazed with anguish and struggled to follow his companion, even though he was in obvious pain.

The first man grabbed his arm. "Already on the way. Hey, man, you should sit down." But he pulled away and ran to the female victim, falling down next to her. He pulled her into his arms and wept into her hair.

"Please, Rayna, wake up. Please wake up." The woman from the other car had walked over then and already the sound of sirens could be heard in the distance. She watched as the man carefully brushed her hair off her face and kissed the top of her head, rocking her gently. "Oh, God, Ray," he murmured. "I'm so sorry. You gotta be ok."

The woman looked at one of her companions and said softly, "Oh, my God, I think that's Rayna Jaymes! I hope she's going to be ok."

One of the men shook his head. "She's pretty banged up. I hope she'll be ok too." He nodded towards the man on the ground. "Who's that with her?" The woman shrugged and shook her head. "He reeked of whiskey, so I'm guessing he was drunk. I wonder if she was too?"

Just then the ambulances, fire truck and police arrived and the three people from the other car moved off to give their accounts of what had happened, while the EMT's concentrated on the accident victims.


	3. Chapter 3

**This is Deacon's story right after the accident. Kind of his POV on how things happened. The next two chapters are very short ones, but designed to move the story along.**

Rayna reached over to try to take the bottle out of Deacon's hand. At the same time they both saw the other vehicle come through the intersection. Deacon felt Rayna jerk on the steering wheel and the SUV started to swerve and skid. As it started to turn over, he heard Rayna scream.

As the vehicle turned over, he felt himself slam against the door, felt the seat belt pull tightly against his chest. His head hit against the side window, hard, and left him dazed. The window exploded and he felt pinpricks in his face, hands and arms. He instinctively reached out towards the dash and felt a pop in his wrist. Again he slammed against the side of the vehicle as it rolled again and he felt Rayna's arm hit him on his left side.

When the rolling stopped, he was momentarily stunned. He heard Rayna moan and then weakly cry out "oh God, help me", then "oh, Deacon". His head hurt, his chest felt like it was on fire. He could feel blood running down his face, only in reverse because they were upside down. He opened his eyes and tried to turn towards Rayna. He saw her eyes close. Her face was bloody.

He reached towards her face. "Rayna!" he called out. "Rayna, answer me!" She didn't respond, didn't move. He felt frantic to get them out. He tried to unbuckle his seatbelt but he couldn't get to it. "Rayna! Rayna!" he kept shouting. Just then someone reached in and started pulling him out.

"We're gonna get y'all out!" he heard and then he screamed in pain.

After he was out of the car, all he could think about was Rayna. He tried to get around to the other side of the car, but he was having trouble standing. His shoulder hurt, his chest hurt, his hand hurt and his head hurt. But he had to get to her. He saw another man pull her out, then carefully carry her away from the car and gently lay her on the ground. Deacon got over to her and scooped her up in his arms, not caring about the pain. All he could think about was how silent she was, how her eyes didn't open and he was so scared. In that moment, all he could think about was how she couldn't leave him now that they had finally found their way back to each other. He loved her. He couldn't lose her.

#

Deacon didn't want to leave Rayna, but the EMT's convinced him that she would be taken care of and that they needed to check him out. He watched them move her into an ambulance and their frantic actions scared him. He was helped into another ambulance and they settled him on a gurney. They checked vital signs and made note of the serious bruise on his shoulder and his pain there. He had trouble breathing and they suspected broken ribs. They wiped up some of the blood on his face and applied bandages. When they moved to help him lie down he cried out in pain and they noticed his wrist seemed out of place.

The siren of the other ambulance started up. Deacon tried to sit up but the pain knocked him back. "Rayna," he choked out.

"It's ok, they need to get her on to the hospital. You'll see her there."

A policeman poked his head in the back of the ambulance. "One on the way," he said. Then to Deacon, "Sir, is there someone we can call for you?"

Now that the post-accident adrenaline was subsiding, Deacon could feel the pain coursing through his body. "My niece," he said through clenched teeth.

"In your phone?" Deacon nodded, gesturing to his back pocket, his eyes closed. The EMT pulled out the phone, handing it to the policeman. "What's her name?"

"Scarlett."

The policeman found it and then called from his phone. When a voice answered, he asked, "Sorry to call so late, m'am, but may I speak to Scarlett?"

#

Scarlett didn't recognize the number on her phone late that night. "Hello?" she said apprehensively.

"Sorry to call so late, m'am, but may I speak to Scarlett?"

"This is Scarlett," she said warily.

"M'am, this is the Nashville Police. Your uncle has been in an accident and we're getting ready to transport him to Vanderbilt Medical Center."

"Deacon? Is he hurt?"

"Yes, m'am, he was injured. You might want to meet him there."

Scarlett could hear Deacon shout "Where's Rayna?" A cold chill went up her spine. "I'm on my way, sir, thank you for calling me." She turned off the phone and looked at Gunnar. "Oh, my God, Deacon's been in an accident, sounds like with Rayna Jaymes. I need to get to the hospital."

"I'll take you. What hospital?"

"Vanderbilt Medical Center." She looked up at Gunnar, tears spilling over. "Thank you. I'm glad you're here with me."

He hugged her close. "Come on, let's go."


	4. Chapter 4

**Rayna's perspective after the accident. Very brief, because she's unconscious.**

Rayna reached over to try and grab the bottle out of Deacon's hand. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw another SUV cross in front of them and realized she was going to hit the other vehicle. She tried to swerve out of the way and suddenly the car started to roll. She screamed as they rolled over. She hit her head hard against the door. She felt her body strain against the seatbelt and then the searing pain that followed it. She could feel her knee bang hard against the steering wheel. The window exploded and she was covered in pebbled glass. Again she hit hard against the side of the car.

She thought of Maddie and Daphne. Saw their sweet faces. She thought of Deacon and she threw her right arm instinctively against him as though to protect him.

Finally everything stopped. "Oh, God, help me," she moaned. The pain was so great and she wanted to scream but everything around her was going black. She turned her head to the side to look at Deacon. His eyes were closed and blood was all over his face. "Oh, Deacon," she murmured as the darkness was overtaking her. Just as she let go, she saw Deacon turn to her, but then there was nothing.


	5. Chapter 5

**Teddy and Tandy find out about the accident. Interestingly, at this point Teddy doesn't know Rayna was with Deacon.**

Teddy had the TV on, but wasn't paying attention to it. It was his week with the girls, so he was at the house. Maddie and Daphne were asleep upstairs. A lot had gone on over the past week and he was preoccupied with those events. The Cumberland deal had raised its ugly head again. The call from Dashell Brinks was alarming and he wasn't looking forward to their meeting. He was certain Lamar was behind this.

His meeting with Peggy had left him reeling, feeling both apprehensive and confused. Her announcement that she was pregnant was disconcerting. He had no idea what he was going to do about that. The implications on his life and his children's lives were potentially huge. He still wasn't convinced that he trusted her not to tell the Feds what had happened with the Cumberland deal.

But as troubling as the Peggy/Cumberland/Feds issues were, the bigger concern was the aftermath of the explosive reveal that Maddie was Deacon Claybourne's daughter. He and Rayna had made an agreement before Maddie was even born to shield her from that knowledge. He knew that when Rayna had decided to start seeing Deacon again that the plan was in jeopardy of being disclosed and he wasn't wrong. Even though Rayna had not been the one to tell Deacon – it turned out that Maddie was – he was still angry at her for getting involved with Deacon in the first place. Without that, maybe it would never have happened. It was what had set Maddie on the path that led to her discovering the paternity test and then going to Deacon directly with her suspicions.

Maddie had initially been angry, at both of them, but mostly at Rayna. But with the resiliency of youth, she and Rayna had been able to work the worst of that out quickly. However it had not stopped Maddie's hostility and brooding over the upheaval in her life. Teddy was discovering that, although she had decided not to shut them out completely, she still blamed her parents for turning her world upside down. He frowned when he thought about it. Deacon had reacted exactly how he would have predicted, falling off the wagon almost immediately. He had attacked Teddy in front of city hall, shouting that Teddy had stolen his life. Teddy hated that Maddie would have to deal with that. Deacon was no father figure, in his eyes.

What he was grateful for was the fact that, for the time being at least, Maddie wasn't asking many questions about Deacon and hadn't asked to see him. He didn't think that would last, but he thought that right now perhaps she was just processing things. He knew that Rayna wanted to be more forthcoming with her, which he thought was a mistake and he had told her so. They had argued about it, but in the end Teddy thought he had convinced her to let Maddie make the first move.

When the doorbell rang, he looked at his watch. It was nearly 10. Who could be here at this hour? As he walked to the door he could see a police officer through the sidelight and he felt apprehensive. He instantly thought of Peggy and wondered if she had given him up after all. Would they really arrest him at this time of night? With his girls upstairs?

He took a deep breath to calm his nerves and opened the door. "Can I help you?"

"Mr. Mayor? I'm sorry to come by so late but I'm afraid I've got some bad news."

"What kind of news?"

"Your wife, sir. Rayna Jaymes. She's been in a very bad car accident and has been taken to Vanderbilt Medical Center."

Teddy was shocked. "What? Are you serious? How is she?"

"She's in pretty bad shape, I'm afraid. I think you should get to the hospital as soon as you can." He shook his head sadly. "I'm very sorry, sir."

Teddy looked shaken and for a moment was speechless. Then he said, "Thanks for coming by. I'll get to the hospital right away."

He shut the door and stood in the foyer trying to sort through what he'd heard. He, of course, didn't know what Rayna's plans were that night and couldn't imagine where she would have been or what would have happened to lead up to a car accident. The police officer had said it was bad and he started to panic thinking about what that could mean. He needed to get the girls and get to the hospital as soon as possible. He ran up the stairs and first into Maddie's room.

"Maddie! Maddie!" He shook his oldest daughter. She opened her eyes and looked at him groggily. "Maddie, your mom's been in an accident and we need to get to the hospital. Get dressed!"

Maddie immediately sat up, instantly awake. "What happened? Oh my God! Is she ok? Is she ok?" she cried.

"I don't know," Teddy responded. "Just get dressed. I need to get Daphne." He ran to his younger daughter's room. Maddie was wailing and that roused Daphne.

"What's going on, Dad?" she asked sleepily.

"Your mom's in the hospital. Get up and get dressed."

Daphne popped out of bed. "Is she ok?" She looked afraid and like she was going to start crying too.

Teddy looked flustered. Maddie was still wailing. "I don't know. I need you both to get dressed so we can go to the hospital. I'm going to call your Aunt Tandy."

Teddy rushed down the stairs and picked up the phone to call Rayna's sister. When she answered he said "Tandy, it's Teddy. Rayna's been in an accident and they've taken her to the hospital."

He rubbed his free hand over his face, unnerved by what was happening. "I don't know any details. Just that she was in a car accident and she's at Vandy Medical Center. And that it's bad."

This was a nightmare. "They're getting dressed right now. Then we're headed over," he said, responding to Tandy's questions.

Teddy nodded as he listened to Tandy. "I know," he said. "I don't know anything at this point. I don't even know where she was tonight. I guess we'll find out more when we get there." He realized just then that someone needed to let Lamar know. "Tandy, can you…."

Teddy exhaled. He also saw the girls standing at the edge of the kitchen island, tears streaking their faces, holding each other's hand. "Thanks. Look, the girls are downstairs. We need to go."

When he hung up, he gestured to them both. They ran into his arms and he hugged them tight. "She's going to be ok. Aunt Tandy and Paw Paw will meet us there. Come on, let's go." And they hurried out to the car to head to the hospital, all three full of fear and apprehension and questions.

#

Tandy had just walked into her kitchen and poured two glasses of wine when her phone rang. She frowned. It was late. Who would be calling? She looked at the caller ID and it was Rayna's house. Which was puzzling since Rayna wasn't staying at the house this week, since it was Teddy's week with the girls. Had she gone by there for some reason? She knew Rayna had gone to The Bluebird and wondered if there were an issue with the girls. She picked up. "Hello?"

It was Teddy. Tandy felt the hair stand up on her neck as she listened. "What? Oh my God! What happened?"

As Teddy was explaining, Tandy walked quickly back to her den with the phone. "Oh my lord," she said breathlessly. "What about the girls?"

By now Tandy was standing in the doorway and looked at Bucky. He immediately saw the fear in her eyes and jumped up. "I'll meet you there." Bucky was at her side and she grabbed his hand, her eyes wide and focused on his face. "Teddy, she has to be ok."

Bucky's face showed concern. Tandy nodded as she listened to Teddy. "I'll call Daddy," she said. And then, "Ok, I'll see you there." Tandy dropped the phone and stared at Bucky. "Oh my God," she breathed.

Bucky felt a niggle of apprehension. Clearly this was about Rayna and it didn't sound good. "What's going on?" he asked.

Tandy pulled back, her face distraught and tears forming in her eyes. "It's Rayna. She's been in a car accident. Teddy says it's bad."

Bucky rubbed his hands over his face. "She went to The Bluebird tonight to see Juliette. It must have happened after that." He looked around for his phone. "I'm going to call Marshall and see what he knows."

Tandy nodded. "Ok, I'm going to call Daddy." She looked at Bucky pleadingly. "Will you take me to the hospital?"

Bucky leaned in and kissed her on the forehead. "Of course. Whenever you're ready."

Tandy picked the phone back up and, her hands shaking, called her father. Things had been strained between the two of them lately, but they needed to pull together for Rayna.

"Hello," came Lamar's gruff voice, obviously annoyed at being woken up.

"Daddy, it's Tandy."

"What the hell do you want at this hour?"

Tandy swallowed. She could hear Bucky's low voice in the background. "Daddy, it's Rayna. She's been in an accident."

"What the hell? What kind of accident?"

Tandy knew the memories this would bring back. "A car accident, Daddy. She's pretty badly hurt."

There was silence. Then "where is she?"

"Vanderbilt."

"Ok, I'll see you there."

"Daddy, do you want me to come get you?"

"No. Samuel will drive me." Then he clicked off.

Tandy stood looking at the phone, then realized Bucky wasn't talking and was looking at her. Her instincts told her she wouldn't like what he was going to say.

Bucky cleared his throat. "Marshall said Rayna followed Deacon out of The Bluebird. She didn't come back obviously."

Tandy's heart sank. She knew what was going on between them and she knew Deacon was drinking again. "Damn it, Bucky. He was probably drunk. I can't believe Rayna would actually get in the car with him."

"Tandy, let's get to the hospital. We don't know anything yet." As he hurried her out the door to his car, he was sure Rayna wouldn't let Deacon drive drunk. Which made him wonder if she might have been the one behind the wheel.


	6. Chapter 6

**Two things. One, I am not a doctor, nor do I play one on TV. So my medical stuff may not be precise; please overlook any errors. Two, I'm kind of neutral on how I feel about this chapter, but it does get me to the next part of the story, which I feel a lot better about. Hope you enjoy; any comments appreciated!**

The ambulance came screaming into the emergency bay. Several doctors ran out as the ambulance doors flew open. "Female MVA vic, unconscious, severe bruising across the upper left quadrant. Multiple lacerations on face and hands. Probable knee dislocation," the EMT shouted out as they pulled out the gurney and rushed Rayna into the emergency room.

As they quickly ran through a series of visual reviews, started IV lines and took blood, one of the doctors asked "Do we have an ID?"

"Rayna Jaymes." The doctor looked up with an arched eyebrow. "Rollover crash. There's a male victim following, although his injuries don't look to be as severe." The EMT took a breath. "There was the smell of alcohol and a whiskey bottle at the scene."

"Tox screen!" the doctor shouted. Then he went back to looking over his patient. "We need to get her up to surgery stat. Someone needs to stay and wait for the family." He looked at the EMT. "They're on their way, right?"

"Yes, sir."

The doctor turned to one of the nurses. "You might want to call the chief and let him know who we have. There probably will be reporters before long." The nurse nodded and hurried out. "Ok, let's get her upstairs!"

#

Shortly after Rayna arrived, a second ambulance came roaring in. As the doors opened and the gurney was pulled out, the EMT called out, "Male MVA vic, probable broken ribs, broken wrist, shoulder dislocation, concussion, multiple lacerations, deep laceration to right leg!"

Deacon moaned as they took him in. "Rayna!" he called out. "Where's Rayna?"

"Already here, sir," one of the doctors said.

"Is she ok? Tell me, is she ok?"

"Sir, let's get you taken care of first and then I'll get you an update on Ms. Jaymes. What's your name?"

"Deacon," he said as pain gripped him. "Deacon Claybourne."

"Ok, Mr. Claybourne, we need to check you out and see what we've got."

"Where's Rayna?" he asked again weakly. "Is she ok?" His eyes were frantic. He tried to sit up but his chest hurt and he fell back, gasping for air.

In the exam room, they ran IV lines, took blood, checked out his injuries, and ripped his pants leg to get at the long, deep gash in his right leg.

"Mr. Claybourne, is someone from your family coming for you?" a nurse asked him as she worked on the cuts on his face.

"Yeah, Scarlett, I think. My niece."

"Ok, we'll have someone wait for her and bring her back when she gets here."

"Rayna," he gasped. "Where's Rayna?"

The nurse looked questioningly at the doctor in charge. She gave a slight nod. "They took her up to surgery, Mr. Claybourne."

Deacon closed his eyes and anguish crossed his face. "I'm so sorry, Ray," he murmured. "I'm so sorry."

#

Teddy ran into the ER, Maddie and Daphne right behind him. The nurse at the desk looked up. "Yes, sir?"

"My wife, Rayna James, she was brought in here, was being brought in."

By now everyone in the ER knew Rayna James, the country music queen, had been rushed to the ER with very serious injuries. The nurse also knew a man had been brought in with her, obviously not her husband she now realized, but who was she to judge? "Yes, sir. She is here. She's up in surgery right now. If you'll have a seat over there", she pointed to the waiting room, "I'll have one of the doctors come update you."

Teddy gave a slight smile. "Thank you." He turned to his daughters. "Come on, girls." They both looked terrified. They had barely sat down when he saw Tandy rush in with Bucky. "Tandy!" he called. She turned, her face pale, and ran over. She sat next to Maddie and grabbed her hands.

"How is she, Teddy? What's happening?"

"The doctor hasn't come out to brief us yet. All I know is she's in surgery."

Just then a young doctor in scrubs approached them. "You're Ms. Jaymes's family?"

Teddy stood up. "Yes, I'm Teddy Conrad, her, uh, husband."

"Mr. Conrad, I'm Dr. Nichols. I think the nurse told you Ms. Jaymes is in surgery. It looks like she has a ruptured spleen and some trauma to her liver, probably from the seat belt. She has a dislocated knee and what appears to be a serious concussion. She was unconscious when she came in. What we're worried about most right now is the spleen and liver and I'll update you as we know more." He paused. "Do you have any questions?"

"How long will the surgery be?"

"It's hard to say, because we're not sure what we'll find until we get in there. Several hours, most likely."

"Will she be ok?"

The doctor smiled kindly. "We're doing everything we can to ensure that. Just so you know, her passenger will probably be moved to a room soon. He had much less serious injuries."

Teddy frowned. "Passenger? Someone was with her?"

Bucky cleared his throat. "She apparently left The Bluebird with Deacon. So I think he was in the car with her."

Teddy clenched his jaw. "Thank you," he said tightly to the doctor, who hurried off.

"Deacon was in the accident too?" Maddie cried out. She turned to Tandy, who reached out and hugged her niece. What terrible news to get hit with all at once, Tandy thought. Maddie cried softly.

Just then Lamar walked in. Tandy untangled herself from Maddie and jumped up to meet him before he could walk over. She grabbed his arm. "Daddy," she started.

He pulled against her. "Tandy, what's happening with Rayna?"

"Daddy, Rayna's in surgery. But I need to tell you that she and Deacon were in the car together." She implored him with her eyes not to make a scene.

Lamar opened his mouth and then closed it. "How is he?"

Tandy was shocked. This was not what she had expected. "I don't know any details, but we understand that he'll be moved to a room soon."

Lamar nodded. "We need to make sure they let us know how he's doing too." He turned to Teddy and the girls.

"Paw Paw," Daphne said softly, tears rolling down her face.

Lamar sat next to her and hugged her. "Your mama's going to be ok, sweetheart. She's a fighter and stubborn as all get out. She'll be home before you know it."

#

Scarlett and Gunnar hurried into the ER and walked up to the desk. "Hey, I'm here for Deacon Claybourne," she said. As she waited for the nurse to check on whether she could go back, she looked around and saw Bucky. He got up and walked over.

"Hey, Scarlett," he said and hugged her. He nodded at Gunnar.

"I didn't know you'd be here, Bucky," she said. "Have you heard anything about Deacon?"

Bucky shook his head. "Just that they would be moving him to a room. They just came and told us that Rayna's in surgery."

Scarlett clasped her hand over her heart. "Oh, no, is she gonna be ok?"

"I hope so."

Just then the nurse interrupted. "Miss, are you Scarlett?"

"Yes, m'am."

"Let me take you back to your uncle."

"Thanks." She turned to Bucky. "Talk to you later." Bucky reached in to hug her.

Scarlett and Gunnar followed the nurse back to one of the trauma rooms. They stood outside the door while the nurse motioned to the doctor, then scurried off.

"Are you Scarlett?" the doctor asked. Scarlett nodded, her fear preventing her from speaking. "I'm Dr. Morris and I've been working on your uncle. He's got a concussion, broken ribs, a dislocated shoulder, a broken wrist and a pretty serious gash on his leg." Scarlett gasped and the doctor smiled, patting her arm. "It's not quite as bad as all that sounds. I am going to want to keep him for a few days to monitor him, especially that wound." She paused. "When he came in it seemed pretty obvious that he was under the influence of alcohol, so I want to be sure that's all out of his system."

Scarlett looked at Gunnar. She wondered if Coleman knew Deacon was still drinking. Then she looked back at the doctor. "Can I see him?"

The doctor nodded. "Of course. I'll be keeping an eye on him until we get him moved to a room, which will hopefully be soon."

Scarlett looked at Gunnar again. "I don't know what's going on. I'm really scared."

Gunnar took her hand. "It'll be ok. Maybe you should go in and see him. I'll wait right here."

Scarlett nodded and walked into the room. Deacon was lying with his eyes closed but he opened them when he heard her footsteps. "Scarlett," he said. "Have you heard anything about Rayna?"

Scarlett shook her head. "Just that she's in surgery." She took his hand. "How are you? What happened?"

Deacon squeezed his eyes shut. "We were in the car. Arguing. And then a car was in front of us and Rayna swerved to miss it. I'm not exactly sure what happened after that. But Rayna wasn't saying anything. I was so afraid she was dead. It's my fault."

"You weren't driving?"

Deacon shook his head. "No. But I was mad. I was yelling at her."

Scarlett looked puzzled. "But why?"

Deacon looked at her, his eyes full of pain. "It doesn't matter right now. I just need to know she's gonna be ok." Tears came to his eyes and then to Scarlett's as well, as she saw his despair.

#

It was well after midnight when Deacon was finally settled in a room and given a sedative to help him sleep. Scarlett had called Coleman, who was planning to come over in the morning, and sent Gunnar home. She planned to stay in Deacon's room that night in case he needed anything.

Rayna was in surgery longer than expected. She had gone into cardiac arrest once but they were able to revive her. They had finally stopped the bleeding and were ready to close her up. When the doctor came to the waiting room, Maddie and Daphne were asleep. The doctor quietly shared what they had done and let them know that she was stable and in recovery, but her condition was still in flux, and the next forty-eight hours would be critical. The plan was to move her to ICU until she awoke.

"What about Deacon Claybourne?" Lamar asked. "How is he doing?"

The doctor shook his head. "I don't know about him, sir. I'll have someone come let you know."

As the doctor left, Teddy turned and glared at Lamar. "I can't believe you, of all people, are actually asking about Deacon Claybourne."

Lamar smirked. "My daughter obviously cares about him, so I'm going to keep my eye on him for her."

"I don't want Maddie in the middle of this."

Lamar chuckled softly. "Maddie's already in the middle of this, Teddy. I'm sure she'd be interested in how Deacon's doing too."

Maddie opened her eyes when she heard her name. She sat up. "Is Deacon ok?"

"We're gonna find out, darlin'," Lamar said. Teddy exhaled in a huff and Lamar smiled.

"What about Mom?" she asked.

"Your mom is out of surgery," Teddy said, anxious to take back control of the communication. "She's in recovery and then she'll be moved to ICU. She's going to be ok." He gave Lamar a look that dared him to contradict him.

#

As time moved inexorably towards dawn, those in the waiting room alternated dozing and walking. The girls slept fitfully and they all waited for Rayna to be moved to ICU so they could see her.

Lamar got up and inquired as to Deacon's room number. He took the elevator and walked down the quiet hallway and stood in shadows of the doorway, watching.

Deacon slept quietly, finally oblivious to everything going on around him. Scarlett sat in a chair and watched him, exhausted but unable to sleep. When a nurse came in, she smiled wanly at her and watched her do her work. On her way out, the nurse patted her arm. "He's doing ok," she said quietly and Scarlett nodded.

Rayna was still not awake when she was moved from recovery to the ICU. The nurses knew who she was and took extra care with her. One of them arranged her hair on her pillow. "So she looks nice for her family," one nurse said. The doctors were concerned that she had still not regained consciousness. But she looked peaceful as monitors beeped around her and IV lines were hooked up and changed. All anyone could do was wait.


	7. Chapter 7

Juliette woke up and turned to look at the bedside clock. Just before 11. Wow. She had gotten home after midnight from the memorial show for her mother and had fallen into bed exhausted. This was the best sleep she'd had since the Dante business had started.

She got up and padded into the living room. Emily was already there. She looked up when she saw her boss walk in.

"How did you sleep?"

"Great. I feel pretty good today actually."

Emily bit her lip. "So…"

Juliette looked at her assistant. "So, what?" She frowned.

"I guess you haven't heard about Deacon and Rayna."

Juliette rolled her eyes. "I've been dead to the world for the last ten hours, so that would be a no." She headed towards the kitchen. "So what did they do, elope? Oh, wait, Rayna's not divorced yet, so they can't do that." She looked at Emily and smirked. "They broke up again?"

Emily sighed and shook her head sadly. "Actually, there was a really bad car accident last night after they left The Bluebird."

Juliette walked back in the living room with a stunned look on her face. "What do you mean, a bad accident? What happened?"

"Apparently they swerved to avoid another car and flipped over several times."

Juliette hugged herself and hunched over like she'd been kicked in the stomach. "Are they ok?"

Emily shook her head. "I guess Deacon came out the best. Broken ribs, a broken wrist, lots of cuts and bruises, a concussion. He had a bad cut on one leg, they said, too. He's still in the hospital though."

Juliette sank onto the couch. Her mouth felt dry and her stomach hurt. "What about Rayna?" she croaked.

Emily took a breath. "It's pretty bad. She was unconscious and had to go into surgery right away. They removed her spleen and she had some trauma to her liver. Plus a concussion, cuts and bruises." She exhaled. "She's still unconcious. It's pretty touch and go right now."

Juliette put her head down on the back of the sofa. Her emotions were still so raw after her mother's death. Rayna was annoying, but in the time they had spent on tour together, she had started to gain some respect for her. Thank God the tour was over, she thought, and then she cursed herself for the insensitive thought. She looked up. "I want to go see Deacon."

Emily frowned. "I'm sure he's not up for visitors yet."

Juliette stood up. "I don't care." She started back in the direction of her bedroom. "I'm going to change. Have the car brought around."

#

When they got to Vanderbilt Medical Center, the crowd of reporters and photographers were thick around the entrance. Juliette put on her sunglasses and walked purposefully up to the front door with Emily beside her. She had no trouble ignoring the questions tossed her way.

"Juliette, are you going to see Rayna?"

"Juliette, what do you know about the accident?"

"How does it feel happening so close to your mom dying?"

That last question caused an oh-so-slight hesitation in her step, but she pressed her lips together and walked in without looking at anyone. She took off her sunglasses and approached the information desk.

"I'd like to know Deacon Claybourne's room number."

The person at the desk looked it up. "424."

"Oh, and what floor is Rayna Jaymes on?" The person gave her a blank look. Juliette rolled her eyes. "Oh, please. Why would there be a whole posse of paparazzi here if she weren't here?"

The woman sighed. "It's family only."

Juliette narrowed her eyes. "Look, I'm Juliette Barnes. I just finished a six month tour with Rayna. I'm as close to family as it gets. So tell me what floor or I'll call your supervisor."

The woman hesitated as she decided the best course of action. She sighed. "Tenth floor."

Juliette turned and walked off to the elevator, a small smile on her face. She and Emily got off on the fourth floor and headed for Deacon's room. When they got there, Scarlett was still there and Deacon looked like he was sleeping, so Juliette motioned to her.

"How's Deacon?"

"He's, uh, resting. It was kind of a rough night."

Juliette walked closer to Scarlett and lowered her voice. "How is he? Really."

Scarlett took a breath. "Kind of wrung out, I guess. He really got banged up."

Just then, Deacon opened his eyes. He raised his left hand slightly as though to acknowledge Juliette. She walked over to his bed. "Oh, my God, Deacon. You look awful."

Deacon tried to laugh, but it hurt and he grimaced in pain. "Thanks," he whispered hoarsely.

Juliette smiled apologetically. "I guess you probably do know that. How are you feeling?"

"I've been better. I don't recommend getting slung around in a car." He winced with pain. "I have the worst headache I've ever had."

Juliette frowned. "What happened?"

Deacon closed his eyes. "I don't really want to talk about it right now." He opened his eyes and looked at her. She was taken aback by the pain she saw; not physical pain but emotional pain. "Do you know about how Rayna's doing?"

Juliette shook her head. "All I know is what Emily told me, that she had surgery last night and that she's still unconscious. I'm going to go up there and see if I can find anything out."

Deacon closed his eyes again and nodded. "Let Scarlett know, if you would." He was quiet for a moment. "Thanks for coming by."

"Let me know if there's anything I can do," she said putting her hand on his arm. Then she turned and walked back to the door, pulling Scarlett with her. Pointing her finger, she said, "If he needs anything, anything at all, call me." She started for the door, then turned back. "Do you know when he's going home?"

Scarlett shook her head. "They said they'd probably keep him a couple more days, but then he can go home."

"Will you be staying with him?"

Scarlett nodded. "For a while. To keep an eye on…things.

Juliette nodded. "Good. I'll check back later." And she and Emily walked out.

#

When they got on the elevator to head to the tenth floor, Juliette grabbed Emily's arm. "I actually don't know Rayna's family. Who am I going to talk to?"

"I'll bet Bucky's there. You could talk to him."

"Oh, good idea." The elevator doors opened up and Juliette strode out and down the hall to the waiting area. She saw Rayna's daughters and a woman she thought was Rayna's sister. Next to her was Bucky and she sought him out with her eyes and inclined her head.

Bucky walked over. "Hey, Juliette."

"How's she doing?"

Bucky looked grim. "Not great. She lost a lot of blood in surgery and she had a cardiac arrest on the table. She's in a room, but she's still unconscious, which is concerning." He lowered his voice. "Have you seen Deacon?"

Juliette nodded. "Yeah, we went there first. He looks really rough. He asked about Rayna." She swallowed hard. "Do you think I could talk to her daughters?"

Bucky gave her a small smile. "I think that would be ok." He turned and gestured to Maddie and Daphne, who jumped up and walked over.

Juliette took a hand in each of hers and forced a smile to her face. "I want y'all to know I'm praying for your mama. I know she loves y'all a lot and she'll come out of this fine."

The older one gave her a hopeful look behind the tears. "I hope so, too. Thank you for coming to see us."

Juliette smiled encouragingly and squeezed their hands. "Your mama was right beside me when everything happened with my mama. I want you to know that if you need to talk or just get away for a little bit, you can call me. Ok?" They both nodded. The little one was shaking with sobs and Juliette reached out to embrace her, tears streaking her own face. Then she stood up and looked at each of their faces. "Just remember, I'm here for you."

The older one looked at her beseechingly. "Do you, um, do you know what room Deacon is in?" she asked in a low voice.

Juliette nodded. "Yeah. 424."

"Thanks."

Juliette looked helplessly at Bucky. He reached out and embraced her. "Thanks, Juliette."

Juliette smiled wanly. "I'm gonna go because I know it's kind of crazy here. But let me know if I can do anything." She looked again at Rayna's girls. "I'm so sorry about your mama, but I will pray for her." And then, overcome with emotions she hadn't expected, she turned and walked back towards the elevator, Emily trailing behind.

Juliette was silent on the ride down. She was swarmed again by the reporters as they left the hospital but she pushed through as though she didn't see them.

"Are you ok?" Emily asked when they were back in the car.

"No. Did you see those poor girls? It makes me so sad." She turned to look at Emily. "I don't understand. What the hell happened? Something's not right about all this."

Emily took a breath. "There's been talk that Deacon was drunk."

Juliette looked stunned. "Are you kidding me? What could happen to make him fall off the wagon like that? And was he driving? Why would Rayna even get in the car with him if he was drunk?"

Emily shook her head. "She was driving, not Deacon."

Juliette frowned. "Well, I don't know what the hell is going on, but she better not die." She turned to look out the window and was silent the rest of the way home.


	8. Chapter 8

**So on day two, Deacon gets two unexpected visitors.**

Deacon was lying in his hospital bed, conscious of everything that hurt. His head still hurt. Now that he had spent two days in the hospital, he knew that was from the concussion and no longer from the hangover. It still hurt to breath – that was his broken ribs. They had told him those would heal over time and that he would just have to take it easy. His wrist hurt and he was a little concerned about that. It was his right hand, but they told him that would heal fine and he would be playing again with no problem. He still felt a dull ache in his shoulder but that was already better than yesterday. His leg still felt a little like it was on fire. The gash had been deep, but the doctor assured him that, other than a scar, it would heal fine.

So he knew all his physical wounds would heal eventually and he would be the same as before. Except for the fact that he now had to deal with the reality that he was a father and the pain of what he had missed in Maddie's life might take a long time to heal. Much longer than it would take for his physical wounds to heal. And then there was the biggest emotional wound of all – Rayna. Two days after the accident, the anger was returning as well as the feelings of betrayal. He wasn't sure how long, if ever, it would take for him to get past that. That realization pained him as well. She was the person he had trusted most in his life and she had betrayed that trust on such a visceral level. But he was also worried about her and those conflicting feelings were what caused the most pain he had – the pain to his heart.

He had sent Scarlett home yesterday. There was no need for her to sit around any longer. He was going to be ok and there were plenty of nurses and doctors to check on him. As he was lying there with his eyes closed, he heard footsteps coming into the room. He assumed it was a nurse and so he was surprised when he opened his eyes and saw Lamar standing there. He said nothing, wondering what vile words Rayna's father would spew at him.

"How are you feeling, Deacon?" Lamar asked, resting his hands on the back of a chair. Deacon frowned. This wasn't what he expected. Lamar chuckled softly. "Don't worry. I'm not here to lay into you. I'm just here to check in on you." Deacon glowered at him. "You don't have to say anything. Actually, I've already talked to your doctor and I understand that you're going home tomorrow. That you came through this reasonably well, all things considered." Deacon was confused by this Lamar. The Lamar that actually seemed to care. "You know, I want to be able to tell my daughter when she wakes up how you're doing, because I know she will ask." At the reference to Rayna, Deacon's eyes filled with hurt. Lamar cleared his throat. "I know when she wakes up, y'all have a lot to talk about," he said softly. "But I hope you understand that her heart is broken too. Be gentle with her." Deacon just stared at him. Then it seemed a little like Lamar was just talking to himself as he looked towards the window. "She's still unconscious. The doctors say she should be awake by now and they don't know why she's not. We had a little bit of a scare with her early this morning, but she seems to be moving past it now. She just lays there looking like she's peacefully sleeping, but I can see the pain near her eyes. Not physical pain, but heartbreak. I'm wondering if she wants to wake up…." His voice trailed off and he looked pensive. Then he looked back at Deacon. "They both need you. Rayna _and_ Maddie." Deacon's face mirrored the concern in Lamar's as he mentioned Maddie. "I'm expecting you to be there for them." Then he straightened up and patted the back of the chair. "I just wanted to check in on you. I'm glad to see you're doing ok. I'll be sure to let Rayna and Maddie know." Deacon's pained eyes followed him as he turned and walked out the door.

#

Maddie told Tandy she needed to stretch her legs. They had all been sitting for so long. With Rayna in the ICU, they weren't allowed to go in but once every hour for 10 minutes, 2 at a time. "Don't go too far," Tandy said and Maddie walked out and down the hall. From across the waiting room, Teddy watched her leave.

She knew which room Deacon was in because Juliette had told her. She got on the elevator and went to the 4th floor. She walked down to his room, her heart in her throat. This was the first time she'd seen him since the day she showed up on his doorstep and told him she thought he was her father. Her parents had confirmed it later and she had not known what to do. She was angry, she was hurt, she was afraid. She didn't know what her life would be like or how to act around Deacon now. She understood that Deacon wasn't to blame for the lie about her paternity, that he had not known either and was as blindsided as she was. Trying to process all of this had been hard and now that both her mom and Deacon were in the hospital, injured, her emotions were all over the place. But she needed to see him.

When she got to his room, she saw him sitting in a chair with his back to the door. She stood for a moment before she knocked. He turned in the chair. When he saw her, he smiled. "Hey, Maddie."

She lingered at the door. "Hey, Deacon. Are you up for some company?"

"Absolutely. Come on in." He tried to stand, but he was a little woozy still from the pain, and had to sit back down. He nodded towards the other chair. "Why don't you sit down?"

Maddie walked in shyly and sat in the chair. She breathed in and out, not sure what to say to him. "How are you?" she finally asked.

Deacon let out a short laugh. "I'm alive. Everything hurts though." He paused as he thought about Rayna. "I'm sorry about how everything ended up, Maddie."

Maddie shook her head. "I don't blame you, Deacon." Her voice caught and tears filled her eyes. "I'm glad you're ok." She smiled tentatively at him.

Deacon felt tears sting his own eyes and shut them while breathing in slowly. Then he smiled back at her. "Thanks, sweetheart."

"Have you been to see Mom?"

"No. I don't know that people would let me see her anyway." That was technically a lie. Just after 2 AM this very day, he had woken up with an overwhelming need to see her. He had slowly gotten himself out of bed and walked out into the hallway. A nurse saw him and rushed over. When he told her what he wanted to do, she got a wheelchair and pushed him up to Rayna's room, where he sat for two hours, against all hospital policies, just looking at her, breathing with her, silently imploring her to wake up. But he wouldn't tell Maddie this. Not now.

Maddie frowned. "I think you should go see her if you want to. I think she would be glad to know you were there."

Deacon sighed. He didn't want to burden Maddie with grown up emotions and grown up pain. "You know what, Maddie, I'll think about it. I just don't want to get in the way." He needed to get off the topic of Rayna, with all the conflicting emotions that led to right now. "I'm really glad you came to see me. I've been thinking about you a lot."

Maddie smiled shyly. "Me too." She looked down at her hands a moment, then back up. "So I guess now I know where playing the guitar came from."

Deacon laughed with relief. "I guess so. You always were amazingly good, you know."

She tipped her head to the side. "Is this going to be weird?"

"What, you and me?" Deacon shook his head. "I don't think it has to be. The good part is I already know you and love you. But maybe we can spend more time together. Just you and me. Getting to know each other differently."

Maddie smiled and nodded. "I'd like that." She blushed a little. "When you get out of the hospital, will you teach me on the guitar? So I can get better?"

Deacon shook his head and laughed. "I don't know that I could teach you much, but I would be glad to try." He motioned to his splinted hand and the sling. "As soon as I'm all healed up, I'd love for us to play together."

Maddie stood up. "I think I'd better get back upstairs. They don't know I came down here."

"Thank you for coming, Maddie."

Maddie stood there awkwardly for a moment and then she stepped over closer to his chair, leaned down and kissed him on the cheek. "I love you, Deacon."

Deacon fought tears and smiled at her. "I love you too, Maddie."

He turned and watched as she walked out. She turned back and smiled and waved and he smiled back at her. When she was gone, he let the tears flow. And he thought about Rayna and how much he needed her.

#

When Maddie got back to the waiting room, she went and sat next to Teddy. He looked at her. "Where were you?"

She looked at him evenly. "I went to see Deacon."

Teddy frowned. "Maddie, I don't want you to see him."

"Why not? He's my dad. I should be able to see him if I want."

"Maddie, I just don't know that it's the right time for that."

Maddie turned away from him. "I don't care. If I want to see him, I will, and you can't stop me."

Teddy looked at Maddie. At the determined set of her jaw, the steeliness of her gaze. He thought about her bluntness, her stubbornness. He didn't know why he had never thought of it before, but she was so obviously Deacon's daughter. He felt a pang of hurt as he considered how she had been so stubborn and determined and fierce, even as a toddler. She was passionate about things and spoke her mind freely, but she was also closed off at times. Not like him and certainly not like Rayna. Like Deacon.

Her singing voice, like Daphne's, was from Rayna but she had picked up a guitar at an early age and practically taught herself to play. That came from Deacon, he knew. He had so rarely thought of her as Deacon's daughter that it felt like a knife to his heart to think it now. He and Rayna had often commented on their brooding, introspective older daughter as compared to the outgoing and bubbly Daphne. It occurred to him now that whenever they talked about Maddie, a cloud seemed to come over Rayna's eyes. It made him wonder how often she may have regretted their deal. He would catch her every now and then looking at Maddie with almost a longing in her face, as though she was considering what might have been. But when he came up on her, she immediately would smile and the look would be gone and he'd wonder if it was just his imagination.

But it wasn't his imagination anymore. It was real. It was out in the open. Deacon was Maddie's father. She was struggling and Teddy was too. More than that, he was afraid. Afraid he'd lose her, that she'd prefer Deacon over him. That Deacon would poison her mind against him when he had the chance, which was why Teddy wanted to keep them apart.

Then he thought about Peggy. He had only talked to her once since Rayna's accident, a very short conversation. They had not talked about the pregnancy. But they would have to. And he worried about how that would impact things with Maddie and Daphne. He had no doubt that once Rayna recovered she would gladly move forward with the divorce, under the circumstances. He didn't know where things were now between her and Deacon, and quite frankly he didn't care, but she would not want to subject the girls to more scandal and might be more inclined to move on quickly. He worried that she would keep the girls from him, or try to. He wasn't sure what his leverage would be with Maddie, but he would fight for both her and Daphne.

Just then, Daphne moved closer to him and rested her head against his arm. "You ok, Daph?" he asked.

She looked at him with sad eyes. "I want Mom to wake up."

"I know, honey. I do too."

A tear escaped down her cheek. "I'm scared."

Teddy pulled her into an embrace. "I know you are, honey. But I know that your mom is going to get better. I know she wants to be with you and your sister. More than anything."

Maddie turned and looked at them. "I think if Deacon would go see her and talk to her, she'd wake up." She looked at her father almost defiantly.

"Oh, yeah," Daphne said. "Because Deacon's her boyfriend." She smiled shyly, then, realizing she had said that in front of her dad, looked remorseful.

Teddy clenched his jaw. "That's not for us to decide."

"Well, I told him already," Maddie said and then got up to go sit with Tandy.


	9. Chapter 9

**Some snippets of things happening over a couple of days. This is a bridge to the next big chapter. Thanks to all who have left reviews – it's encouraging!**

Deacon woke up when his phone alarm went off at 2 AM. He would be going home in the morning but he wanted to see Rayna again before he left. It had worked well the night before when he went to see her in the middle of the night, although he had not planned it then. Again, the nurse on duty got him a wheelchair and took him up to ICU. She spoke to the nurse on duty there and again, against hospital rules, Deacon was allowed to stay in Rayna's room for as long as he wanted. This time he got out of the wheelchair and sat in a chair by her bed.

He sat in the semi-dark, watching the machine that monitored her vital signs. He was actually glad she was not awake. He was feeling angry again, betrayed by the lies she told him or omissions of fact, depending on perspective. But he was also worried about her. She was a part of him, no matter what she had done, and he knew he'd never be able to completely be done with her. But he still wasn't sure where they were going from here. All he knew right now was that he needed to be near her, to feel her presence. And so he sat in the dark of night watching her, protecting her, doing the only thing he knew to do. Loving her.

###

The next morning, the doctor stopped by to review with him his at home instructions and to take a last look at his injuries. She gave the instructions in written form to Scarlett, who was planning to stay with him for a while as he recovered. He had tried to argue that he didn't need any help, but the doctor reminded him that with his right shoulder and wrist injuries, he needed someone to help with basic things, at least at first. He was really too tired to argue, so he let it go. For now. A nurse came with a wheelchair and the three of them went down the elevator to a side entrance, where Gunnar was waiting to drive them home.

Scarlett and Gunnar chattered away in the front seat and tried to engage Deacon, but he wasn't interested in talking. He put on his sunglasses and looked out the side window, effectively communicating his disinterest in any kind of conversation. He felt an ache in his heart as they drove away from the hospital and from Rayna.

###

As Teddy drove up to the hospital, he saw Deacon get into a car outside the side exit, away from the reporters still hanging around at the front. He was glad the girls were in school that day and not with him in the car. He didn't need to hear Maddie's comments today. Seeing Deacon only reminded him of what he had warned Rayna would happen if she got involved with him again. Maybe he was kidding himself to think they could have kept this from Maddie her whole life, but losing her to Deacon Claybourne just wasn't an option in his mind.

###

Tandy wasn't really sure what Bucky knew about Maddie. He had been Rayna's manager almost her entire career and they were as close as brother and sister, but Bucky had never indicated any knowledge of Maddie's real parentage. Even in the aftermath of the accident, it had not been discussed, although Tandy felt like it sat like the 800-lb elephant in the room.

"So, Buck," she said as they drove to the hospital.

"Yeah?" he responded, looking over at her as she sat, clearly going over something in her head.

Tandy turned to look at him. "Did you know Maddie was Deacon's daughter?"

Bucky wanted to laugh. Rayna always referred to her sister as "the mouth of the South" because of her tendency to tell what she knew, the more shocking the better. He tried to hide the smile that played on his face. "Well, she never came right out and told me, but it really didn't take much to figure that one out."

"Really? Then why do you think Deacon never figured it out?" Tandy looked surprised.

"I think he didn't want to. And, to be fair, Rayna had started seeing Teddy before Deacon ever went back to rehab." Bucky shrugged. "You know, thirteen, fourteen years ago, things were a little different. It would have been a much bigger scandal for Rayna to have been pregnant on her own. I guess, fortunately for her at the time, she had someone ready and waiting to be her savior. Make it all look above board. And, Teddy _could_ have been Maddie's dad, timing-wise."

Tandy pondered this. "That is definitely true. I think Rayna knew from the beginning. I think it was probably what she wanted to be true. I know she was glad it was true. I'm just so heartbroken for Maddie."

Now it was Bucky's turn to look surprised. "Really? She's always struck me as a pretty resilient kid. She's stubborn just like Deacon. I think after she mulls it over in her mind, she'll come out of this fine. It's Rayna and Deacon that I worry about."

"Yeah, I guess so."

###

Teddy met the doctor in the ICU outside Rayna's room. "Where are things today?" he asked.

The doctor shook his head. "We seem to finally have her vital signs under control. They took a little dip this morning just before dawn. Not sure what that was about, but things have stabilized since then. She's breathing better, her heart rate is stronger. She's just got to heal now." He sighed. "The thing that's confusing is why she hasn't woken up. There's no reason we can tell as to why she hasn't. Other than she just isn't ready."

"I know the girls are really worried about that."

"You should all keep talking to her. Encouraging her. Something will trigger that desire to wake up. But often our bodies know better than we do what they need."

Teddy nodded and the doctor walked away. He went in Rayna's room and stood by the bed, looking at her. "Rayna," he finally said. "You need to wake up. The girls are really worried about you and…well, I am too. We all need you back." He continued to stand looking at her. He wondered what was going through her mind, if anything. He wondered what had really happened in that SUV. He wished that Deacon had been driving. That would have given him something to grab on to and a way to channel his anger at where they were right now. He sighed and walked out to the waiting area.

###

The nurses at the ICU nurses' station watched Teddy walk out and looked at each other. One of them shook her head. They knew about the man that spent time in her room each of the last two nights. They knew now that he was Deacon Claybourne, Rayna Jaymes' former bandleader and close friend. Ex-lover, someone reminded them. And the passenger in the accident that brought them both here. He always looked so devastated when he visited. He never talked to her, even though they had told him he could, he just sat and watched her. But they believed she knew he was there. After all, she'd suffered a cardiac arrest after he'd been there the first time. And this morning, her vitals dropped after he had left.

He was the one, they were pretty sure, that really cared about what happened to Rayna Jaymes. Certainly not the mayor, who never looked like he wanted to be there at all.

###

Teddy was still at the hospital when Lamar came by. Lamar spent time sitting with Rayna, holding her hand. He still remembered how she was holding his hand when he woke up in this same hospital not that many weeks ago. A part of him wanted to be there for her the same way she had been for him. But she didn't wake up. And he worried. He had spoken with her doctor and was frustrated that the family didn't seem to be getting through to her.

As he walked out of her room, he saw Teddy and walked down to the waiting area. "Being the dutiful husband, I see," Lamar smirked.

Teddy smiled sarcastically. "We are still officially married, Lamar. I'm here for her and on behalf of our girls."

Lamar sat down. "Oh, so you think you represent both of Rayna's daughters, do you? It seems to me that Maddie's been speaking for herself pretty well, don't you think?"

Teddy frowned. "Lamar, Maddie is still my daughter. My name is the one on her birth certificate. I'm the father that raised her."

Lamar chuckled. "All that is true. But Maddie is of an age where she can make some of her own decisions. She may have other thoughts about that."

Teddy glared at Lamar. "Lamar, I think you should leave. I don't want to get into an argument here with you."

Lamar stood up. "Oh, I'll go. I'm sure you're feeling a lot better now that Deacon Claybourne is not still here in the hospital."

Teddy stood up and walked up close to Lamar. "Get out!" he said under his breath. And Lamar turned to walk away, laughing softly to himself. Teddy clenched his jaw and fumed silently.

###

Coleman stopped by Deacon's house the afternoon he got home. Deacon was sitting on the steps and Coleman sat next to him. "How are you feeling?" he asked.

Deacon let out a short laugh. "I've been better."

"It's been a rough few days, that's for sure." Coleman looked at Deacon and saw a broken man. "Do you want to talk about it?"

Deacon shook his head. "I don't even know what to say. About any of it." He looked at Coleman. "I would like to go to a meeting. Now. With you. Can you do that?"

Coleman nodded. "Absolutely."

###

After the first couple days Rayna was in the hospital, Teddy made the girls go back to school. It gave them something to focus their minds on instead of just sitting at the hospital worrying. Tandy would bring Maddie and Daphne by the hospital after school. They talked to her and held her hand. The nurses always let the girls stay a little longer than the rules allowed.

On the fourth day, Maddie decided that she needed to do something that she thought would make her mom wake up.

###

Maddie had taken Rayna's phone out of her purse that first day in the hospital. She wasn't sure then what she would do with it, but now she did. It had been four days since the accident. Four days that her mom had been in the hospital without waking up. She was scared and she only knew one thing to do.

She pulled out the phone and turned it on. She rolled her eyes as she noted, yet again, that her mother had never set up a password on it. When she got home, she would tell her she needed to do that. But for now, she was glad she had not. Maddie went to her contacts and scrolled down to Deacon's name. She hesitated for a moment and then pressed "Call".

Deacon picked up his phone when he heard it ringing. "Rayna". When he answered, his voice was shaking. "Ray?"

"Deacon, it's Maddie."

Deacon closed his eyes. His heart was still racing. "Maddie? Why are you calling from your mama's phone?"

"I didn't have your number. Deacon, please go see Mom. I really think she needs you to come see her. I think you're the only one that can get through to her." Deacon was silent on his end of the phone. He really didn't know how to respond to Maddie. "Please, Deacon. For _our_ family. You, Mom and me." Maddie was crying.

Deacon's heart was breaking for his daughter. He was struggling with his own composure in the face of her plea. "I'll try, Maddie. I promise," he finally said.

"Thank you," she said and hung up.

Deacon sat on his bed for a long time thinking about Maddie's call. Thinking about Maddie. Thinking about Rayna. His emotions were all a mess. Just then, Scarlett poked her head in to let him know dinner was ready. She was walking away when he called out to her. "Scarlett?"

"Yeah?" She walked back and looked at him with concern.

"Will you take me to the hospital tomorrow to see Rayna?"

Scarlett smiled. "Of course. When do you want to go?"

"Early. Before anyone gets there."


	10. Chapter 10

Deacon found it hard to sleep that night. He would sleep in fits and starts. More than once he rolled over on his injured shoulder and winced with the pain. He wasn't completely sure he was ready to do this in the cold light of day. Somehow it had been easier to just sit silently beside her in the middle of the night. But he also felt that he couldn't let Maddie down. This was his first opportunity to step up as her father and he felt that he needed to do it. _Her father._ That gave him pause. He was in seriously uncharted territory here.

Finally, he knew he wouldn't sleep any longer and he got up. It was still dark. He took a shower and cautiously toweled off. Everything still hurt. He got dressed and walked slowly into the kitchen. Scarlett had pre-set the coffee so all he had to do was turn on the coffee maker. While he waited for the coffee to brew, he wished he had a shot of whiskey instead. Maybe more than just one. He was back to the place where he had to struggle with the desire for a drink every day, every hour, every minute, every second. He wondered how long it would take this time to get back to the place where it wasn't always on his mind.

When the coffee was done, he went to get a mug, but he was still clumsy with his left hand and it fell to the floor, shattering into pieces. "Damn it!" he muttered. He heard Scarlett run down the stairs almost as soon as it happened. She came flying into the kitchen, her face pale.

"Deacon? Are you ok?"

Deacon smiled sheepishly. He knew what she thought. "It's just a coffee mug, sweetheart. I'm still not good with my left hand."

Scarlett flushed. "I'm sorry. Let me help you." She knelt down and picked up the broken pieces and then poured her uncle a cup of coffee and brought it to the table. "You're up early."

"I couldn't sleep. Maybe we could go ahead and go?"

"Will they let you in this early?"

"They let me sit with her in the middle of the night both nights I was there," he said quietly.

"Oh." This was news to Scarlett, but she let it slide. "I'll get dressed and we can go." Deacon nodded and then looked away.

###

Once they got to the hospital, they took the elevator to the tenth floor. Scarlett went to the waiting room to wait for Deacon and he walked up to the nurses' station. The nurse on duty was one he'd seen before. "Can I see her?" he asked.

She nodded. "Of course." Then she smiled. "I'm glad to see you're doing ok and you're out of the hospital."

Deacon nodded at her and walked slowly to Rayna's room. He hesitated outside the door for a moment and then walked in. Rayna was still lying in the bed, unmoving, with her eyes closed, the steady beep of all the medical equipment the only sound in the room. He choked on a sob as he looked at her. But he also still felt the bitter bile of anger over the lie. The reason they were in the SUV together. The reason Deacon was drunk. The reason they were arguing right before Rayna lost control and flipped the vehicle. But he reminded himself he was doing this for Maddie. _His daughter._ Those words screamed in his head. He didn't know if he was prepared for this.

He moved closer to the bed. He struggled with his composure as a moan slipped out, of hurt and bitterness and heartbreak combined. Because this woman lying here so still was still the love of his life, his soul mate, even though his anger was beyond anything he'd ever felt before. He started to reach for her hand and stopped, clenching his fist in pain and confusion. But slowly he unclenched his hand and reached slowly for hers. Her hand felt soft and warm. He squeezed it gently and bowed his head.

"Rayna. What are we gonna do?" he whispered. He moved a little closer, pulling her hand towards him and he gently kissed it. "I'm so mad at you, Ray. I don't know how I'm going to get past this. I don't know how I'm ever going to forgive you. But you got to pull through this. Because somehow we got to get through this together. We have to figure it out. I can't do that without you."

He laid her hand back down. He wasn't sure what to do. Should he stay or go? He decided to sit for a few minutes just watching her breathe, like he had those nights he was still in the hospital. Then he was startled by a hand on his shoulder. He turned quickly to stare into Maddie's red-rimmed eyes. He was surprised to see her this early in the morning. He looked around, wondering who had brought her.

Maddie smiled at him through her tears. "I'm so glad that you came. I was afraid you wouldn't." She pulled up a chair to sit next to Deacon. She didn't touch him again but she leaned in. She looked at him earnestly, all her emotions clearly telegraphed in her face. Deacon experienced a rush of emotions as he looked at her. "Please don't hate her, Deacon."

Deacon squeezed his eyes shut and then opened them, rubbing his hand over his mouth. He cleared his throat. When he spoke his voice was raw with pain. He couldn't look at Maddie. "I don't hate her, Maddie. I could never hate her. But I'm so angry with her and I don't know what to do with that. I'm not ready to get past that yet, I don't think."

"I know. I was mad too. But I forgave her. Can't you?"

Deacon reached for her hand and squeezed it gently. "I think it's just harder sometimes for grownups."

Maddie looked at him pleadingly. "Do you still love her?"

"Yes. No. I don't know. I'm still angry, sweetheart. It's hard to know how you feel when you get hurt like that. I trusted her, you know. Now I don't know what to do."

Maddie looked over at her mother, then back at Deacon, and said softly, "I think if you told her that you still loved her and that you wanted to try to work things out, she'd wake up. I think that's what she needs. We've all told her, but she still won't wake up. I think she's waiting for you to tell her."

Deacon didn't know how to tell Maddie how conflicted he was, or if he even should. She was so wise in so many ways, but she was also so young. And right now, she was a young girl whose mama wouldn't wake up. He looked over at Rayna and he felt such an ache inside but he wasn't sure if the ache was love, pain, bitterness, or anger. He looked at Maddie with sadness. "I do want her to wake up, sweetheart. Just like you do."

Maddie put her hands in her lap and lowered her head, tears running down her cheeks. "I'm so scared, Deacon. What if she doesn't wake up? What if she dies?"

She looked up at Deacon with fear in her eyes. Deacon bit his lip and felt his heart constrict at her words. Not only did he hurt for his daughter and her pain, but he realized it was his pain too. He was surprised at how bereft he felt just at the suggestion she could die. He tried to smile for Maddie's sake.

"Maddie, sweetheart, she's not going to die. She's going to wake up and she's going to be fine. She's going to be fine."

Maddie reached over and put her arms around Deacon's neck. He hugged her to him with his good arm. "I'm so glad you came. I know this will help her."

Then with a sob, she got up and ran out of the room, leaving Deacon staring after her. With eyes full of tears, he turned back to Rayna's bed. All his emotions played across his face. He remembered her shouting at him in the car that he had said it didn't matter if she told him everything or nothing, that she did love him and that if he would let them, they could get through this. _But it did matter. It mattered more than anything._

Then he said, in a rough whisper, "Ray, you have to wake up. God help me, I do love you, but we have to figure this out. I can't do it by myself. I don't know what's next for us. I don't know that love is enough to get us past this. But I know I can't help Maddie alone. Please, Ray."

He sat there watching her for a while. He thought about their history, how they met as teenagers. How he was there for her when Lamar kicked her out of the house. He had known when he first met her that she was his soul mate and he knew now that he had never not loved her and would love her for the rest of his life. But when he thought about Maddie, he still felt anger. What should have been a wonderful thing – to know that their love had created that beautiful girl – was tarnished by the lies.

He finally reached out and gently took her hand, his own hand shaking. He rubbed his thumb over her fingers for a moment, then turned and walked out of her room.

###

While she waited for Deacon, Scarlett had her own conflicts to deal with. Gunnar's proposal was so out of the blue. Because she got the call about Deacon, she never did respond to him and she had put him off since then to focus on her uncle. She wanted to let him back in, but she was afraid that he still hadn't dealt with what tore them apart to begin with. Avery was back and he reminded her so much of the boy she first met. But she couldn't forget how badly he hurt her and how he let his ambition, and his jealousy, ruin their relationship.

And then there was Deacon. She had never been as frightened in her life as she was that day that Gunnar called her and told her that her uncle needed his sponsor. She and Coleman had met Gunnar at Deacon's house and he had been in a drunken rage, tossing over furniture and then attacking Coleman. When she brought him home from the hospital, he had been so quiet. Even though he had told her not to, she insisted that she would stay with him until he was able to manage with his injuries. She watched him like a hawk. Even though the events of those couple days leading up to the accident were scary, Deacon seemed committed to staying on the sober path. But she still wanted to watch.

Last night at dinner, he finally told her about Maddie and her heart broke for him and for Rayna. She truly hoped they would find a way to repair the damage.

"Scarlett, honey, what are you doing here? I thought Deacon was home from the hospital already." She turned when she heard her name. It was Bucky, Rayna's manager, with Rayna's sister.

Scarlett took a breath. "Um, waitin' for him now. I brought him over to see Ms. Jaymes."

Tandy tensed up and opened her mouth as though she was going to say something, but stopped.

"So he's still with her?"Bucky asked.

Scarlett shrugged. "I guess. I haven't seen him come back." She looked at Tandy. "I did see Ms. Jaymes' daughter, maybe a half hour ago."

Tandy looked startled. "You did? Maddie? Did she leave?"

"Yes, m'am. She looked like she was dressed for school and she went runnin' by here."

"Do you know if she saw Deacon?"

"I think probably so."

Just then Deacon walked into the waiting room. He looked at Bucky, then Tandy, then at Scarlett.

"Are you ready?" Scarlett asked. Deacon nodded.

Tandy took a step towards him. "Deacon, are you ok? We've been worried about you. Did you talk to Maddie?"

Deacon just stared at Tandy, gave Bucky a slight nod, then turned and walked towards the elevator. Scarlett gave Tandy and Bucky an apologetic look and followed her uncle.

###

Later that day, Coleman showed up at Deacon's house. He was sitting in the porch swing, staring out at nothing. He didn't turn to acknowledge Coleman, but Coleman sat down next to him. Deacon lowered his head and spoke without looking at Coleman. "I went to see Rayna today. Maddie had called me and asked me to." He rubbed his face. "She came by while I was there. She asked me to forgive Rayna. Cole, I'm so confused about how I feel right now. I know she and I have to figure this out, but I'm afraid I'm still too angry. I don't know if I can forgive her. But what if she doesn't wake up? I can't do any of this if she doesn't make it."

Coleman patted him on the knee. "I know, Deacon. I know. The good news is that you _will_ get to figure it out. Rayna's awake. Tandy just called to let me know."


	11. Chapter 11

**Just for clarification – this is out of order based on how the last chapter ended, but I wanted to explore what was going on with Rayna while everything else was going on around her.**

Sometimes she could hear voices, but not words. Sometimes she was aware that people were around her, touching her, but she couldn't respond. Sometimes it was someone pulling something out of her arm or changing the pillows. She wanted to say "that hurts" but she couldn't speak. And then it would go black again.

Sometimes she recognized a voice. Her daughters. Or her sister. But she was waiting to hear another voice that never came. Once, twice she thought she sensed him, but without the voice, she couldn't be sure. Which is why it was easier to just let the blackness take over.

In that blackness, memories appeared. She remembered a baby being placed in her arms. She remembered leaning over the tiny human, crying. Everyone thought she was crying happy tears. But she was crying tears for the man who would never know her as his daughter. The man she could see in her tiny baby's face.

She was packing up her things. "I'm going to live with a boy!" she cried as though it were kind of a scary thing. But it didn't really feel scary. In fact, it felt warm and good. She had a sense of feeling protected and loved. And inside she smiled because she knew the boy loved her.

She remembered being on stage. Feeling nervous, like she always did. So she always started with a song that let her warm up. She remembered standing in her high heels, tapping the floor with one heel, raising her hands over her head and clapping with the audience. Walking back and forth across the stage for a few more beats and then finally, when the adrenaline was pumping and the excitement was building and the fans were at fever pitch, then she could sing.

There was a night at a small bar, singing a sweet love song with a man whose face wasn't clear. But when it was over, it was bittersweet, confusing.

And then she saw him, in another bar, in a sultry beach town in Mexico, where they flirted with each other as though they'd never met. They drank shots of whiskey, they kissed and laughed. They teased each other and then they wrote down the words. After they ran back to their hotel room and made hot love to each other, they sat in bed, wrapped in sheets that felt like sandpaper and wrote "Postcard from Mexico."

She remembered the butterflies in her stomach when she first met him. "Rayna, huh? That sounds like a good name for a country music star." And so she became one. With him by her side.

And then she felt the absence of him, gone from her life. She couldn't see his face, couldn't hear his voice. The blackness pressed down on her. And right before it took her over she heard, very faintly, frantic voices and a steady beeping noise. And then it was all gone.

###

She remembered the first time they went to New York City for a gig. It was the middle of winter and cold but they didn't mind. She had on the cowboy hat he had given her on her 23rd birthday. They both wore their beat up cowboy boots and jeans. They walked up and down Fifth Avenue looking in store windows and pretending they were buying things for their new house. She laughed and said they were country come to the city. It started snowing and he grabbed her and held her close, kissing snowflakes off her lips and nose.

She loved it when he sang to her. Most of the time they sang to each other, but sometimes he would sing just to her. When she would be wearing one of his old flannel shirts, inches from his face, so she could sneak in a kiss in between the verses.

She cried the first time she sent him to rehab. She yearned for him the entire time he was gone. When he came home they celebrated by spending the whole weekend in bed. They couldn't get enough of each other, trying to make up for lost time. She was so happy and proud of him. Less than thirty days later, he went out with his friend Vince and came home drunk.

Panic gripped her. She remembered feeling like her breath had been stolen away. All the blood rushed away from her head and left her dizzy. It was the worst fight they'd ever had mainly because it was deceptively calm. But she never wanted to see the anger in those eyes again, hear the measured fury in his voice, watch him walk away from her like he was gone for good. It was easier to let the blackness swallow her up again.

###

The next time she heard a voice, it was the voice she wanted to hear. The voice she needed to hear. The voice she'd been waiting to hear, because it was the only thing that would pull her through. At first it was like all the others, just the sound, not the words. But then she heard "Ray, you have to wake up. God help me, I do love you." Then she felt a touch. He was holding her hand. She wanted to wake up. She wanted to see him, but she couldn't move, she couldn't open her eyes. _Deacon_, she whispered in her head.

This time, though, instead of going black, it just went gray.


	12. Chapter 12

**I'm not completely happy with this chapter, but I can't figure out what to change to it, so decided to go forward with it. Hopefully you'll stick with me, since I think what follows will be better.**

Rayna could hear a beeping noise. Her head hurt and she was aware of a hum of activity in the background. Her body hurt all over. She felt like she was coming out of a fog. She forced her eyes to open and could see she was in a hospital. Her eyes flickered over towards the light coming in from the window and then back. She saw Tandy and Bucky talking to each other.

"Tandy," she whispered hoarsely.

Tandy turned her head sharply and jumped up. She hurried over to the bed, Rayna's eyes following her. "Oh, Rayna," she choked out.

"What happened?"

Tears filled Tandy's eyes. "You're in the hospital. You were in a car accident."

Rayna considered the words, trying to make sense of it, trying to remember. Then panic struck her face and she looked back at her sister. "Deacon?"

"He's fine. He was pretty banged up, but he's fine." She hesitated. "Do you remember what happened?"

Rayna closed her eyes. "Some of it. I remember being in the car with Deacon." Tears filled her eyes. "We were fighting. He was drunk." Her voice trailed off and tears rolled down her face.

Tandy took her hand. "It's ok, honey. You're ok now. Everything's going to be ok."

"It was my worst nightmare." She looked back at Tandy. "How's Maddie?"

"Scared. Worried. Feeling guilty."

Rayna shook her head. "She shouldn't feel guilty. It's not her fault." The tears came again. "I'm not sure Deacon's gonna forgive me. I know he was really hurt." Tandy just stood there, taking Rayna's hand. She seemed to be going over something in her mind, like she was remembering something. "I felt like I heard him tell me he needed me, but I must be wrong. And that he loved me."

Tandy and Bucky looked at each other, wordlessly debating how, or if, to respond. Finally Tandy nodded slightly and said "He was here this morning. He may have said those words to you."

Rayna looked up at her, hope in her eyes. "He was here? Did you see him? Did you talk to him?"

"I saw him. He wouldn't speak to me, though. His niece was here with him."

Rayna turned away. "Do you think he'll come back?" she whispered.

Tandy took a breath. In reality, she wished Deacon would just go away. But she knew how her sister felt about him and her heart broke over her despair. "I'll let Cole know you're awake. I know he's staying close to Deacon right now."

Rayna looked at her with sad eyes. "I really need to talk to him."

###

After school, Maddie came to see Rayna in the hospital. Tandy had told Teddy that Rayna asked for him to drop her by alone. She very much wanted to see Daphne too, but she needed to see her older daughter first. Maddie peeked in the room. Rayna smiled at her and held out her hand. "Hey baby," she said, with a catch in her voice.

Maddie ran to her mom and hugged her gingerly. Rayna caught her breath and Maddie jumped back. "I'm sorry, Mom. I didn't mean to hurt you."

Rayna smiled wistfully. "It's ok. I'm going to hurt for a while, so I better get used to it." She patted the bed beside her. "Why don't you sit up here with me?" Maddie carefully eased onto the bed and lay next to her mother. "I wanted to make sure you were ok."

"I'm not the one in the hospital. You are."

"I know, but your Aunt Tandy told me you were feeling a little guilty. Maddie, honey, I don't want you to feel that way. You didn't do anything wrong."

"But if I hadn't gone to see Deacon, none of this would have happened."

Rayna squeezed her daughter's hand. "Maybe not. But it would have had to come out and no matter how that happened, it wasn't going to be good." She looked at Maddie earnestly. "I'm sorry you found out like that."

Maddie took a deep breath. It was hard to read what she was thinking. "So what does this mean? What happens to me?"

"Nothing 'happens' to you. Your life will be a lot the same. Your dad is still your dad and he still loves you very much. But now you know that Deacon is more than just 'Uncle Deacon'. And he loves you too. And he'll probably want to spend more time with you. How do you feel about that?"

Maddie sighed. "It's going to be so complicated."

Rayna smiled ruefully. "Yeah, I guess that's true. It will be. But I'll do everything I can to help you." She licked her lips. "So are there questions you want to ask me?"

Maddie hesitated and then asked "Did you love him when you got pregnant with me? Deacon, I mean?"

Rayna took a deep breath. "You know, honey, it is very complicated and I don't want you to misunderstand this, but yes, I did love him then. I loved him very much."

"Then why did you marry Dad?"

"Well, Deacon was going through a lot of personal problems at that time and it just wasn't possible for us to be together. I was seeing your dad too and it just seemed better at that time to be with him."

"Why didn't you tell Deacon?"

Rayna looked down at her hands. "That's the hardest part, sweetheart. I thought, your dad and I thought, that the best thing for you would be to say that he was your dad."

"Do you still think that?"

Rayna looked up at her daughter sadly. "I don't know. I didn't mean for all this to happen, so I don't know."

Maddie was quiet for a minute. "Did you know that Deacon was here this morning?"

Rayna nodded. "Your Aunt Tandy told me she saw him. And that she thought you had seen him too."

"I did. I told him that I was glad he came. And that I hoped he would forgive you."

Tears sprang to Rayna's eyes. "You know it's sometimes harder for grownups."

"Do you think he'll come back?"

"I don't know. I guess we'll just have to wait and see."

Maddie looked at her shyly. "Do you still love him?"

Tears filled Rayna's eyes. She nodded. "Yes. I do." She reached again for Maddie's hand. "Maddie, I want you to know that you are the very best part of my relationship with Deacon. You always have been."

Maddie smiled. "I'm glad."

###

Although Rayna knew that Deacon knew she had woken up, because Coleman told her so, he did not come back to the hospital. Her heart hurt for him and for herself. She had hoped he might come back, but now she was afraid she would never have the chance to tell him she was sorry for what had happened. Their fight in the car before the accident had been so angry and hurtful. He was furious with her and nothing she said seemed to get through to him. But he had scared her with his rage and she was angry herself that he had hit the bottle again.

###

A week later, Rayna was released from the hospital. Tandy arranged for her to be released early in the morning, hopefully before too many paparazzi were there to take pictures. When she got to Rayna's room, her sister was sitting on the bed. Her face was tear-streaked. "I wish Deacon had come by," she said, brokenly. "I really want a chance to talk to him. To explain. I feel like I'm never going to get the chance."

Tandy walked over and sat next to her, putting her arm around her sister's shoulder and pulling her close. In those few seconds, her heart broke for her sister's pain and she made a decision to let go of the family's disregard for Deacon Claybourne. She had watched her sister's relationship with him go through good and bad and thought she was doing the right thing by protecting Rayna against him. But she realized that their love was bigger than all of that. "You will get a chance to tell him," she said. "You know why? Two reasons. One is that he's going to want to see Maddie and he will have to do that through you. But more importantly, he loves you, sweetheart. I know he does. But you're going to have to be patient. He's very hurt and angry and you know he has a right to be. You need to let him work through that. He'll come to you when he's ready."

Rayna pulled back slightly and looked at her sister. "Thank you, Tandy. I've needed someone to be on my side in this. It's felt like I've been doing it alone."

"You know, babe, I've looked out for you almost your whole life. I've tried to protect you and I realized that in doing that, maybe I haven't been fair to you. I worried about you and Deacon the whole time you were together and I thought Teddy was the more correct choice for you. But I understand better now the whole concept of a big love and I know now that's what you had, have, with Deacon. I want you to have the chance to work through this and find a solution. For you, for him and for Maddie." Rayna smiled through her tears and hugged her sister. "Ok, now let me go find a nurse with a wheelchair so we can get you out of here." Tandy smiled back and went to find the nurse.


	13. Chapter 13

Tandy took Rayna home to her house. Maddie and Daphne were waiting for her, along with Lamar. Rayna was glad to see her girls and her father, but the person she most wanted to see was Deacon. She had a number of other visitors and Tandy's heart broke each time the doorbell rang and she saw her sister's crestfallen face to see it wasn't Deacon. After lunch, Tandy shooed everyone away so Rayna could rest. She took a long nap and woke up late in the afternoon. She slowly made her way down to Tandy's courtyard and sat in the waning sun. She heard a car door slam and winced. She was tired of visitors.

At the knock on the door, Tandy opened it to see Deacon with Coleman behind him. She smiled as relief washed over her. "Hey, Deacon. I'm so glad you're here."

Deacon looked at Tandy skeptically. "Really," he said, more a statement than a question. It had been a long time since Tandy had been a fan of his.

"Yes, I really am. I know Rayna will be glad to see you. She's out on the back patio." She pointed in that direction and took Coleman's arm. "Cole and I can visit while you're out there." Deacon didn't respond, just turned and walked in the direction she had indicated.

Deacon stood at the French doors for just a moment before walking out. He could see Rayna sitting on a bench, with her back to him. He took a deep breath and opened the door.

Rayna heard the door open and then footsteps. She turned to see Deacon slowly coming towards her. Her heart started racing and her eyes burned with tears. She stared into his face, unable to read him. He got to the bench and slowly lowered himself to sit next to her. When she looked into his eyes she saw pain and worry. She smiled at him hesitantly. He lifted his hand and cupped her cheek, grazing his thumb gently over her skin.

"You really scared me, Ray," he finally said. "First after you got pulled out of the car and then just laying there in the hospital. You scared me." He leaned towards her and embraced her with his good arm, tightening his hold on her. She clung to him, tears welling in her eyes. "I'm sorry I didn't come to see you in the hospital, but I'm still mad, Ray," he said in a choked voice into her hair. "But we got to work through this somehow."

Rayna reluctantly pulled back. "I didn't think I was going to see you again. I've really wanted the chance to talk to you about everything."

Deacon took her hand and she could see the struggle on his face as he looked down, then back up to her face. "I've had some time to think about all this. And first of all, I want you to know I'm back in AA and back on track. If I'm going to have any kind of relationship with Maddie, I know I have to have my head on right." He exhaled and then worked his lip. Rayna was quiet, just holding his hand. "We have to figure this thing out with Maddie. She and I need time together." He looked at her intently. "I want to be in her life, Rayna. As her father."

Rayna nodded. "Of course."

He took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "It's gonna take some time for me to get past being mad. To get over the fact that you lied to me all that time." He paused. "And I changed my mind. It does matter. I need you to be honest with me from now on. No hiding things." He reached up and brushed away Rayna's tears. "I love you, Rayna. I'll always love you." She smiled encouragingly. "We have a lot of stuff to work through and I don't think it will be easy, but I want to do it with you."

Rayna looked down and then back at Deacon. "I don't expect it to be easy. I don't think it's ever been easy for us. I do want to tell you my side though." She took a deep breath. "I need you to understand, whether you believe me or not, that this decision was the hardest I've ever made in my life. I don't want to make it sound like I didn't agree to it, because I did, but it was Teddy's suggestion. Daddy and Tandy agreed it was the right thing to do. I was scared then. I didn't know if you'd make it through the fifth time in rehab. Remember that one through four didn't stick and I had a baby to think of. I didn't want to put Maddie in a difficult situation. You'll understand more now why, as a parent, you do certain things to protect your child, to ensure their happiness." She stopped and looked into Deacon's pained eyes. "I didn't count on this being the hardest thing I would ever do. The day she was born I wanted to tell you and every day after that I wanted to tell you. The fact that you never even suspected made it a little easier. Having a more professional relationship made it easier, although there were more times than you know when it was hard not to tell you. The pressure from Teddy and Daddy and Tandy was constant. When Coleman knew, he was trying to protect you. So it was coming at me from all sides. I don't say any of this to excuse it, just to explain." She paused to take a breath and licked her lips. "When you and I got back together, I knew it would be hard, and you know I tried to push you away a bit. Teddy made things really difficult for me. I just never really imagined that the truth would come out because of Maddie's pain. When she heard me tell you I loved you, I think it broke her heart. She was watching her parents' marriage blow up and that's hard enough for a girl her age without her being faced with both parents moving on." Rayna took a deep breath. "I know you want to have more of a relationship with Maddie so you need to understand some things. She's still going to think of Teddy as dad and that's going to cause conflict for you and her and for her and Teddy. It just is. And then Daphne's going to get pulled into this and that's going to be hard. For both of them."

"I just want to do what's right for Maddie."

Rayna smiled. "I know. I do believe that." Then the smile disappeared and she looked at Deacon intently. "My biggest concern right now is that when this came out your response was to get drunk. That was always my biggest fear and it came true. You can't be in Maddie's life and do that. When things get tough, and they will, you can't respond by drinking."

Deacon looked down. "I know. I get that I messed up. And that I'll have to prove myself again." He looked up and stared hard at her. "But it goes both ways. You can't hide anything from me anymore, Ray. We can't work if you do."

Rayna shook her head. "There's nothing else to hide." She put her hand on his arm. "Does this mean we'll try to make it work?"

Deacon took a deep breath. "I want to, Ray. I really want to." He smiled ruefully. "But this time I'll be the one to say let's take it slow."

Rayna smiled back. "I think that's a good idea. For you, me and Maddie." She breathed in and out. "I do love you, babe. That hasn't changed." Then Deacon pulled her towards him and kissed her.


	14. Chapter 14

When Rayna left the hospital, she was anxious to get back into a routine. She stayed at Tandy's for a couple days, but she wanted to be with the girls. Teddy had offered to stay with Maddie and Daphne full time, but she wanted to reestablish the shared custody arrangement. And so they did. After she had been home a few days, Teddy came to see her about his own situation. The girls were in school and she was surprised to see him.

"Hey, Teddy."

"Hey, Rayna. Are you alone?"

She gave him a look. "Yes, Teddy. Deacon's not here."

Teddy smirked. "That was not what I meant." Although he was glad to hear it. "I just need to talk to you about some things and wanted to be sure you hadn't kept the girls home or that Tandy wasn't here hovering over you."

Rayna rolled her eyes. "So what is it that you need to talk about?"

Teddy sat at the counter and looked down at his hands, trying to think of how to share his news. "I saw Peggy recently. Actually the night of your accident."

Now it was Rayna's turn to smirk. "Ah, Peggy." She made a little sarcastic shimmy as she said 'Peggy'. "Are y'all back together now?"

Teddy shook his head. "We weren't. But she wanted to share some news with me." He had decided he wasn't going to get into the potential Federal investigation, at least not at this point. This was enough for now. He licked his lips. "Peggy's pregnant."

Rayna gasped and gaped at him. "Are you serious?" Then she laughed.

Teddy glowered at her. "I don't think it's funny, Rayna. It does, however, mean that we should talk about the divorce."

Rayna still couldn't wipe the amused grin off her face. "Well, you are in kind of a pickle, aren't you?" She folded her hands on the counter and leaned forward. "Should I assume you want to hurry this divorce along?"

"I want to talk about it, yes."

Rayna narrowed her eyes. "I don't have a problem with ending the marriage, Teddy. I'd say we both have done some pretty significant damage there. But there are the girls to consider and how all of this will impact them." She paused. "Daphne most especially."

"Maddie is still my daughter, Rayna."

"Legally, yes. But she and Deacon may have something to say about that."

"Has that been discussed?"

Rayna looked away for a moment, then back at Teddy. "Actually, no. But I still think the fact that you have not only had an affair, but gotten your little Peggy pregnant, is not going to sit really well with either of the girls. And it doesn't sit really well with me."

Teddy sighed. "Then what are you proposing?" He knew he wasn't in a good position, but he hoped she wouldn't try to take the girls away from him.

Rayna pondered that for a moment. She was anxious to have the divorce be final, more than ever now that she knew about Peggy's pregnancy. But she didn't want to hurt the girls and she didn't necessarily want to punish Teddy any more than he was probably punishing himself. "I would like to amend the custody arrangement so that I have primary custody and you have visitation. Definitely with Daphne. I want to give Maddie a little more latitude." Teddy frowned and opened his mouth, but she put her hand up. "Teddy, I think she's still going to see you as her dad. You raised her, after all. But I don't really know what she's going to want. And I don't know what Deacon wants yet either."

Teddy raised his eyebrows in surprise. "Oh, really? So Deacon hasn't demanded his rights? Seemed to me when I saw him in front of City Hall, he was sure I'd 'stolen his life'." Rayna frowned at him. "Oh, he didn't tell you that he attacked me the day after the CMA's?"

"Attacked you?"

Teddy smiled. "He tried to punch me. He was totally wasted though, so he didn't get very far. I just assumed he was ready to take on his parental rights. I guess I was wrong."

Rayna crossed her arms. This was news to her, although she had to admit that it didn't surprise her, considering what had gone on the few days after he had confronted her at the CMA's. It made her sad though. "Well, I think he's gotten himself back on track now, but we haven't really talked about what's next. I just think you need to be prepared." She put her hands on her hips. "That's still my offer. Visitation. I'll be generous."

Teddy wanted to argue with her, but he also recognized that he wasn't in a strong position. And he needed the divorce to move forward as expeditiously as possible. He nodded. "I'll accept that. If you'll go ahead and move things along."

"Of course. I'll have my lawyer draw up the papers."

"Thank you, Rayna." And Teddy walked out of the house. Rayna picked up her phone and quickly texted Tandy to stop by.

###

When Tandy arrived, Rayna was lying on the couch with her eyes closed. Tandy hurried to her side, looking worried. "Are you ok, babe?" she asked anxiously, sitting on the coffee table next to her sister.

Rayna put her arm down and turned to Tandy, smiling. "I'm fine. Just tired. You know I just got out of the hospital, right?"

Tandy rolled her eyes. "Well, then what was so important?"

Rayna laughed. "Guess who's pregnant?"

Tandy gasped and grabbed Rayna's arm. "Oh, my God, are you kidding me?"

Rayna laughed harder and then winced as she felt some pain from using her stomach muscles. Tandy looked at her with concern. Rayna shook her head. "Not me." She sat up and leaned closer to her sister. "Peggy Kenter."

Tandy's eyes grew wide and she sat back in shock. "No. Peggy? Pregnant? By who?" Then a light bulb went off and she smiled. "Teddy?" Rayna nodded, still smiling. "Seriously?" Then Tandy laughed out loud. "What an interesting turn of events."

Rayna nodded. "I know, right? Anyway, he stopped by here this morning to tell me that. Or I guess really to ask me to expedite the divorce, but he had to tell me why."

"So, what did you tell him?"

Rayna shrugged. "I told him I would. In fact, I've already called my lawyer. It's not like I want to be married to him anymore, so why not?"

Tandy frowned. "But what about the girls?"

"I told him I wanted primary custody and he could have visitation. No more shared custody."

"And he agreed?"

"I don't think he was happy about it, but yeah, he agreed. What choice does he have? I don't know how the girls are going to react to this, but I don't like the idea of them spending half the time with old Peggy Kenter either." Rayna sat back and closed her eyes. "But, you know, he did tell me something kind of offhandedly that I didn't know."

"What's that?"

"Apparently when Deacon was on his bender he went after Teddy. Told him he'd stolen his life." Rayna opened her eyes and looked at Tandy.

Tandy frowned. "What do you mean 'went after'?"

"According to Teddy, he showed up in front of City Hall and tried to beat him up." Tandy took that in and then she started to laugh. Rayna looked puzzled. "You think it's funny?"

"Kind of." Then Tandy shook her head. "I'm sorry, babe. But it is kind of funny to think about how that must have gone down. I do think it shows you that, as mad as he was, he still was fighting for you. Maybe a poor way to show it, but Teddy did get what Deacon probably thought he should have had."

"I don't know. It actually makes me feel a little embarrassed." She looked sadly at Tandy. "He tells me that he's back on track and I hope so, but I feel a little bit like I'm back to where I was after the first four times in rehab. Wondering if I can trust him. Wondering how long this one will 'take'. But now I have Maddie to consider."

Tandy reached out and took her sister's hand and looked at her with a concerned look in her face. "I know, babe. I think you just need to take it one day at a time. The only thing you can control is you. You can't control what Deacon does or doesn't do. Hopefully he understands that the stakes are higher this time."

Rayna smiled weakly. "I hope you're right. He's coming by tonight to have dinner with us, really so he can spend some time with Maddie."

"I think it's good that you'll be there." Tandy smiled encouragingly. "It's all going to work out for the best. I'm sure of it."


	15. Chapter 15

**Thanks for all the positive reviews! Hope you like this next chapter in the saga.**

Deacon was coming for dinner that night. Rayna couldn't help but remember the last time he came for dinner. It was when everything started to come apart. Teddy showed up and caused a scene, Rayna had told Deacon the next day that she loved him and Maddie had overheard, which is what led Maddie to find the paternity test results. Rayna tried not to think about it. This time Maddie had invited him. That had been Rayna's rule – Maddie would take the lead.

Maddie had good days and bad days. Rayna knew Maddie had visited Deacon in the hospital and that she had called him on the phone to ask him to come to the hospital while she was still unconscious, because Maddie had told her. But Maddie had not talked to Deacon since then. She and Maddie had mostly healed their pain, but there were times when her daughter still sulked and lashed out. She wanted to give Maddie some sense of control over her life now, since she had had no control over how it had exploded around her.

The first day Rayna was back in the house, Maddie had insisted they tell Daphne the truth. Rayna had been apprehensive, but Maddie wouldn't budge. Daphne didn't understand all of it and she had asked if Maddie was still her sister. They had all cried a little.

Rayna told Maddie that she could call the shots with Deacon. And she told Deacon the same thing. She couldn't help but think he was a little relieved.

When Maddie told her she wanted to invite Deacon for dinner, Rayna felt a mix of emotions – apprehension, excitement, fear. Deacon would bring the food. Rayna just hoped it went well.

When the knock came at the back door, Daphne's face lit up and she ran to answer it. Rayna felt her heartbeat speed up. She looked at Maddie's carefully blank face and smiled at her daughter encouragingly. Daphne came back hand in hand with Deacon, who had a bag of Chinese food that he put on the counter. Daphne was the only one who didn't seem to be feeling the tension. "Deacon's here!" she announced triumphantly.

Rayna smiled at him. "Hey."

"Hey." He looked at Maddie, who had turned to face him. "Hey, Maddie."

"Hey," she said softly, looking a little awkward.

As Rayna looked at Deacon it felt like the world around her had receded. She was aware of Daphne chattering away as she pulled out take out boxes from the bag. All Rayna could think about was that she was standing here with Maddie and Deacon and that there were no more secrets. She noticed that Deacon wasn't wearing the sling, although he still had the cast on his wrist. His cuts and bruises had healed and faded, as had hers. Externally, anyway. The internal ones would take some time, for all of them.

Rayna looked at Maddie. She seemed hunched over, something she did when she felt self-conscious or unattractive. She hated when Maddie felt that way. Rayna wanted her to know how special and beautiful she was. It suddenly occurred to her that the gesture was similar to something Deacon did when he was feeling uncomfortable.

Daphne seemed to take over as cruise director for the evening, as she noticed the uncomfortableness all around her. "Hey, Maddie, why don't we sing that song for Deacon that we've been working on?"

Deacon looked back at Maddie. "I'd love to hear it."

Maddie shrugged, but she followed Daphne to the couch. Deacon looked at Rayna, who smiled encouragingly, and then he followed them.

Daphne was sitting on the couch and Maddie went to get her guitar. Deacon sat in the chair opposite them and Rayna felt a wave of nausea remembering that last time. She fought it by trying to stay busy getting things ready for dinner. "You're on your own this time," Deacon said to Maddie, raising his casted right wrist. "But then you don't need me, you know."

Maddie smiled shyly and then she and Daphne started singing 'Mine'. _You were in college working part time waiting tables/Left a small town, never looked back/I was a flight risk with a fear of falling/Wondering why we bother with love if it never lasts._ Their harmonies were beautiful, Maddie's guitar playing flawless. _I say can you believe it?/As we're lying on the couch/The moment I could see it/Yes, yes, I can see it now._ Rayna decided to break the bad memory by coming over to sit in the other chair. _Do you remember we were sitting there by the water?/You put your arm around me for the first time/You made a rebel of a careless man's careful daughter/You are the best thing that's ever been mine._ As she listened to the words, Rayna remembered sitting with Deacon near the bridge, the place where they liked to meet, where people couldn't find them. She'd had good conversations and heart breaking ones there with him. _Flash forward and we're taking on the world together/And there's a drawer of my things at your place/You learn my secrets and you figure out why I'm guarded/You say we'll never make my parents' mistakes._ Rayna knew this song had not been written about her and Deacon, but it could easily have been. She looked at him and could tell he was thinking the same thing. _But we got bills to pay/We got nothing figured out/When it was hard to take/Yes, yes, this is what I thought about._ Deacon remembered the early years, when things were tough. The gigs Watty got them didn't pay much and so they didn't have much, except each other. But that was always enough back then. _Do you remember we were sitting there by the water?/You put your arm around me for the first time/You made a rebel of a careless man's careful daughter/You are the best thing that's ever been mine._ In many ways they had grown up together. They had navigated life and career together and every major milestone was tattooed with their story. _Do you remember all the city lights on the water?/You saw me start to believe for the first time/You made a rebel of a careless man's careful daughter/You are the best thing that's ever been mine._ Rayna remembered seeing the lights of Nashville reflected in the water from the East Nashville side and thinking how one day she wanted to take the country music world by storm. Deacon had held her in his arms that night and they had dreamed of the future. Together. _And I remember that fight, 2:30 a.m./As everything was slipping right out of our hands/I ran out crying and you followed me out into the street._ How many times had that happened? Too many to count or remember. Except for the ones that had ended in heartbreak. _Braced myself for the goodbye/'Cause that's all I've ever known/Then you took me by surprise/You said I'll never leave you alone._ Rayna felt tears burn her eyes. Deacon felt a lump in his throat. _You said I remember how we felt sitting by the water/And every time I look at you, it's like the first time/I fell in love with a careless man's careful daughter/She is the best thing that's ever been mine._ Rayna got up to go get plates ready for dinner, but it was an excuse to walk away before the tears fell. Maddie and Daphne watched her, but kept singing. _Hold on, make it last/Hold on, never turn back/You made a rebel of a careless man's careful daughter/You are the best thing that's ever been mine._ Rayna and Deacon were both wondering if they'd be able to get back to that. _Do you believe it?/We're gonna make it now/I can see it/I can see it now. _ Deacon turned to look at Rayna. She looked at him. The air was thick with the meaning of the words Maddie and Daphne had just sung. And then Deacon turned back to the girls and smiled. "That was great," he said, his voice a little husky.

"That was beautiful, girls," Rayna said, her own voice thick with emotion. "Thank you for singing that for us." Then she took a deep breath to settle her wildly beating heart. "Ok, y'all ready for some good home cooked Chinese food?"

The girls both laughed and Deacon smiled. Rayna was happy to see that Maddie finally looked relaxed.

After they had served themselves and sat down at the table, Daphne looked at Maddie. "Now you know why you're so good on the guitar. It must be from Deacon, since he's your dad!" Deacon nearly choked on his food and glanced quickly at Rayna. She raised her hand to her mouth to hide a chuckle.

"I guess," Maddie responded, smiling shyly at Deacon. As unexpected and startling as Daphne's comment was, Rayna was glad that Maddie had accepted it with grace.

###

As Deacon was getting ready to leave, Maddie said, "Deacon?"

"Yeah, Maddie?"

She looked a little awkward, a little shy as she timidly smiled at him. "Um, would you maybe want to go get coffee with me tomorrow?"

Behind her, Rayna raised her eyebrows at Deacon and smiled a little. "Uh, I didn't know you liked coffee," Deacon replied.

Maddie smiled more broadly. "Actually, I've never had it before. It would be my first time."

Deacon smiled at her. "Well, then, I'd be honored to take you for your first coffee. What time should I pick you up?"

Maddie considered that. "Um, maybe 10:30?"

Deacon nodded. "I'll be here then."

"Can I come too?" Daphne asked.

"No," Maddie said with an exasperated look and tone. "You're not old enough."

"Mom," Daphne whined and looked at Rayna.

Rayna laughed and shook her head. "No coffee for you, Daph. But I tell you what. I'll invite Aunt Tandy over and we can make brunch."

Daphne gave Maddie a superior look and flounce of her head. "Ok. Brunch sounds better anyway." And she walked off, everyone chuckling in her wake.

Maddie turned back to Deacon and shook her head. "Little sisters," she said sadly.

Deacon smiled and winked at her. "I know how little sisters are." He looked at Rayna. "So it's ok if I come pick her up tomorrow?"

Rayna nodded. "Absolutely."

Maddie smiled happily. "Great. Well, bye, Deacon. I'll see you tomorrow." And she walked off happily towards her bedroom.

Deacon ran a hand over his face and then laughed a little. "I sure didn't expect that."

"I think we need to let her do this at her pace. Not make all the decisions for her."

"No, no, I agree with you. I just didn't expect her to want to see me by herself. At least not yet."

"I'm sure it'll feel a little awkward at first, but remember you've known her all her life. It won't be that hard."

Deacon was silent. Rayna realized what she'd said and looked away. A moment passed and then Deacon said, softly, "Thanks for having me over, Ray."

Rayna looked back at him, willing back the tears. Her voice was rough with the emotion. "I'm glad you came."

"So. Good night." Deacon looked at her for a moment and then turned and walked towards the door. Rayna followed behind. He opened the door and walked out, pulling it shut behind him. Rayna stood at the door with her hand on the door knob, watching him through the window, tears streaking her face.

###

When Deacon got home after dropping Maddie off the next day, he saw Juliette sitting on his front steps. He walked up and sat down next to her. "Hey, stranger," he said.

She looked at him and smiled. "Hey, yourself. Sorry I haven't been by but I wanted to give you some space. Looks like you're doing pretty well, though."

"Mostly. Except for this." He held up his wrist. "Another few weeks and it'll be off." He nudged her a little. "How are you doing?"

Juliette shrugged and looked down. "Ok. I've been working on some songs. Keeps me busy." She looked back at him. "So, how are you? Really?"

Deacon looked off. "Ok."

"What's going on with Rayna?"

He turned to look at her and smirked. "Are you looking for gossip?"

She laughed. "Who, me? Please. But I know y'all were cozying up there before all this happened. Just wondering."

Deacon worked his lip as he contemplated what to say. "It's been kind of complicated," he said finally. He looked away from her. "It turns out Maddie is my daughter."

Juliette did a double take. "Seriously?" She smiled a little Cheshire cat grin. "How long have you known?"

"Just since the CMA's."

Juliette looked down at her hands. "Ok. Wow. So I'm guessing this hasn't been the best of times."

Deacon let out a short laugh and rubbed his face. "No, not really."

Juliette looked back at him. "I'm not surprised, you know."

He turned to look at her, a frown on his face. "What do you mean?"

She shook her head. "Oh, I don't mean I knew or anything. But I do know y'all broke up and she got married fast. I'm just saying, anybody could have guessed that. I'm surprised you didn't." He glared at her. Juliette's eyes widened. "Oh, I don't mean to piss you off. It's just not that surprising."

Deacon put his elbows on his knees and rested his forehead on his thumbs, rubbing his head. "I guess."

"So have you seen her since you found out?" Deacon nodded. Juliette snapped her fingers. "Oh, I bet that's why she asked me for your room number at the hospital."

"She did?"

"Yeah. I was checking on Rayna after I saw you and I talked to both her girls. She asked me then."

"I took her out today, just us."

Juliette smiled and nodded. "Nice. How was it?"

"Weird. You know, I never really saw myself as a dad. I don't really know how to act."

Juliette shrugged. "Just be yourself. I don't think you have to be like Rayna's ex."

Deacon smirked. "No risk of that happening."

"So what about you and Rayna? If I'm not being too nosy?"

"You are." He looked at her. "But it's complicated, like I told you."

Juliette leaned forward and clasped her hands together. "Yeah, well, that's why I'm done with love. Too much baggage."

Deacon grinned at her. "You're too young to be done with love. At least wait til you're old like me."

Juliette looked at him. "You're really not done with it though, are you? You and Rayna have been through a lot of stuff."

"This is different. This is about trust."

Juliette looked at her nails. "Well, that _is_ important." She stood up and wiped her hands on her legs. "I just wanted to stop by. You know, if you just wanna talk, let me know." She took a couple steps down, then turned back. "I think you two will work it out. I think that's just where you're meant to be." She gave him a big smile. "See ya!" And with that, she bounced down the steps, got in her car, and drove off.

###

Deacon sat where he was for a moment thinking about what Juliette had said. Then the door opened behind him and Scarlett walked out. "Hey," she said.

He looked back at her. "Hey, girl."

She sat down where Juliette had been. "How was your date?" she asked with a smile.

Deacon smiled back. "It was nice. It felt kind of awkward though, a little bit, for both of us."

Scarlett linked her arm in his and leaned her head on his shoulder. "It'll get better, I just know it." She looked at him a little warily. "I was just talking to Mama while you were out here with Juliette."

Deacon raised his eyebrows. "Oh, yeah? How is she?"

"Good. Wishing she could come up here to take care of you."

"I don't need to be taken care of. In fact, you can go home too." He saw her face fall. "Hey, I appreciate you being here, but I know you've got your own life. You don't need to babysit your uncle."

"I don't mind." She took a breath. "I told Mama you were out with Maddie."

"Yeah?"

Scarlett nodded. "Yeah. She said she knew."

Deacon frowned. "What?"

"She said she knew she was yours." Deacon closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "She said she thought you'd always known and hadn't told her."

Deacon shook his head. He wondered how he could have been the only one not to figure it out. It seemed so obvious now. Except that he hadn't expected Rayna not to tell him something like that, so even when he wondered, he'd put it aside. He had to focus hard on not letting the anger overtake him again. He knew Scarlett was watching him, worried. He turned to her. "Don't worry. I'm gonna get through it." He patted her hand. "And tell your mama I'm ok."

Scarlett nodded and gave him a little smile. "I will." Then she rested her head on his shoulder again and they sat there silently while he let the hurt that he felt dissipate slowly. He was determined to get through this. For Maddie. For himself. For Rayna.

**I know I didn't do the scene where Deacon and Maddie were alone together, but I really see this as more Deacon and Rayna's story, so I hope you'll forgive me for just letting that happen in your imagination.**


	16. Chapter 16

Rayna hated weekends. The girls were at Teddy's. They weren't crazy about going. They were uncomfortable with the situation with Peggy. Maddie acted out more than she normally did, which wasn't pleasant for anyone. But what Rayna hated most was that she was alone.

Deacon still came at least once a week to have dinner with them, so he could spend time with Maddie, and he was always congenial. But after he had taken Maddie out on his own, he had told Rayna he needed some time apart from just the two of them, that he realized he was still was too angry. She tried to be understanding, but she found herself getting angry too. She didn't know how they were supposed to fix things if they never spent time together. And she was wondering if they ever would.

She wasn't ready to tour, was having trouble getting interested in going back in the studio. She still needed to finish the album she'd started with Liam, although they had already released a number of the singles. Marshall was pressuring her to get it finished. She spent time with Bucky, working with Scarlett and Will on their music. It took all the strength she had not to ask Scarlett questions about Deacon and what was going on with him and she could tell that it was difficult for Scarlett as well.

She missed Deacon. She didn't want to, but she did anyway. She knew he was back singing and playing at The Bluebird. He was back with the Opry house band and was doing some session work around town. He was getting back into the rhythm of life, but she was having a hard time doing the same.

She tried writing but she wasn't happy with anything she put down on paper. Sometimes she would go to the coffee shop over off Music Row that Deacon frequented, but she never saw him. And then she quit going, because she felt a little stalker-y and desperate.

She was trying, yet again, to work on a song one rainy afternoon before the girls came home from school. When her phone rang, she was surprised to see Deacon's name pop up. She hesitated just a moment before answering. "Hey."

"Hey." He paused. "You ok?"

"Yeah. I'm ok."

"I, uh, I was hoping I could come by to see you this weekend."

Rayna felt her heart flutter, but she didn't want to read anything into it. "Sure. When?"

"Friday night? I can bring dinner."

"Ok. Teddy picks the girls up at six, so any time after that is good."

"Seven?"

"I'll see you then."

"Bye, Ray." He disconnected.

Rayna had to remind herself to breathe. She also had to remind herself that this could mean nothing. Maybe he was coming to tell her that he had decided he couldn't work things out with her. She had tried to prepare herself for that. She reminded herself that he had crashed and burned after finding out the truth about Maddie. While she didn't begrudge him feeling hurt, betrayed, and angry, it was just that scenario she had wanted to protect Maddie from. And she couldn't help but feel justified with her decision.

###

Rayna didn't tell the girls that Deacon was coming over. She wasn't sure what their expectations were and didn't want to disappoint them if it all came to nothing. So when Teddy came to pick them up, she was cordial to him, she reminded the girls to behave and that she would see them Sunday night. When they left, she went back to her room and dressed carefully.

He brought pizza and she was only able to get one piece down. Her stomach was in knots. The conversation was limited to safe subjects, like what he'd been doing and what she was working on. He asked about how things were going with Scarlett and Will and she shared some of her plans for them. She told him that soon she wanted to get Will on stage at the Opry, just like she had Scarlett, and how excited she was for both of them to start recording and touring.

After they ate, they went outside and sat by the pool. Deacon reached for her hand and started the conversation that Rayna had wondered if they'd ever have. "I was thinking that maybe this would be a good time for you to tell me everything."

Rayna raised her eyebrows. "And when you say everything…."

"I mean, how you and Teddy decided what you were going to do about….Maddie." Rayna took a deep breath and Deacon wondered if she would put him off. "We need to have everything out in the open, Rayna. There's no going forward if there are any secrets left."

Rayna shook her head. "There aren't any more secrets, Deacon. I told you that." It made her nervous to think about telling him the rest of the story. She was afraid this would set him off again and that he would push her away.

Deacon shook his head and frowned. "I need to know the whole story. I can't move forward if I don't know." He bit down on his lower lip. "I think you owe me that, don't you?"

Rayna nodded slowly. "Yeah, I guess I do." She gave him a small smile. "Where do you want me to start?"

"The beginning is usually a good place."

Rayna nodded again. "Ok. So you remember before you went to rehab the last time. Things were really bad. Your drinking had gotten really out of control and I didn't know how to handle you anymore. You didn't remember where you'd been or what you'd been doing. That was when I decided that I had to move out, so I did." She knew this was hard for Deacon to hear and she reached for his hand. She expected him to pull away, but he didn't. "That was when I started dating Teddy. But I still cared about you. I wanted you to go to rehab again but you fought me so hard on that. Sometimes you'd come to my apartment. You were always drunk. I was afraid to let you drive, so I would let you stay." She stopped and took a deep breath. "I loved you, Deacon, even then. Even after I told you that I couldn't be with you anymore. Not in a relationship. But I couldn't let you go. Not really. The last night you came to my apartment, you passed out on my couch. In the middle of the night you came into my bedroom. That wasn't the first time. The next morning when I woke up you were in the kitchen and you had found something from Teddy and that set you off. It was not even 9 o'clock in the morning and you were already drunk. Or maybe you'd never not been drunk, I'm not sure. But that was when you ended up breaking every single thing in my apartment. And the neighbors called the cops and they took you to jail." Tears were rolling down her cheeks as she remembered. Deacon looked away.

"Was that when it happened?" he asked softly.

Rayna nodded. "I think so. Of course, I didn't know right away. But I had bad morning sickness a few weeks later and that's when I knew. I was still seeing Teddy, of course, so I went to him and we talked about it. I told him then that I thought the baby was probably yours. I really didn't know what to do. I was so scared that you would never be able to stop drinking. That it would kill you one day. Like it killed Vince. Teddy was the one that suggested that we get married right away, so that the baby would have a father. And we would do the paternity test after we were married. But he was willing to be Maddie's father no matter what."

Deacon looked at her. "Did you ever think about telling me?"

Rayna nodded. "Every day. But, you know, Teddy and Daddy and Tandy kept telling me that what was best for Maddie was for Teddy to be her father. And, you know, when you hear that enough you start to believe it's true. And Teddy is a good father. He has always loved Maddie like she was his own." She looked pleadingly at Deacon, tears streaming down her face. "I just never thought that the fifth time in rehab would be the one that took. And as time went on, I felt more and more trapped. It always seemed to be too late to tell you."

"What did you think all those times that I spent with your girls? With Maddie?"

"I always thought how much she was your daughter. Everything about her was you." She smiled as she remembered. "She's always been stubborn and bull-headed, just like you. She would pull into herself, just like you. And she's passionate. Just like you." She looked down. "But you know I told you how Teddy kept the pressure on. He never trusted me and as time went on, it became harder and harder to imagine being able to tell you. That was the main reason that he wanted that restraining order. He knew he couldn't control me and he was so afraid that I would tell you, that I wouldn't be able to keep that to myself. And he was probably right, because you could always read me like an open book."

"And that was what all the pulling away was about."

Rayna nodded. "Everyone told me not to get involved with you. Nobody was supportive. Except Daddy, a little bit, when he helped me get the restraining order thrown out. Of course, then it was too late."

Deacon smiled ruefully. "Yeah, I got quite a lecture from Coleman about getting involved with you again. He was not supportive either."

"Deacon, that night I ended up on your porch, that was the truest I had felt in thirteen years. I remember standing in my closet, packing, thinking 'What am I doing? What am I waiting for _now_?' And so I came to you, not knowing whether or not Stacy was with you because you had taken my advice and made things right. I didn't think about consequences that night. All I thought about was the fact that, after all those years, I could finally be with you, where I wanted to be, where I had always wanted to be." She looked at him pleadingly. "You know how sorry I am. I made such a mistake…."

"I know," Deacon interrupted. He took a deep breath. "You know, I do kind of understand why you made some of your decisions. I don't like any of them and I still think you should have told me a long time ago about Maddie. That was wrong. But I also know that I disappointed you when I did find out. I disappointed myself." He looked at Rayna earnestly. "I love you, Ray. I have never loved anyone like I love you. As mad as I was and as wrong as this was, I have to believe we can still move forward. Together. You and me."

Rayna looked at him and said, " So what happens next?"

Deacon shrugged. "I'm not sure." He took her hand and gently ran his thumb over hers. And they sat in silence, not sure of where the road ahead would lead.


	17. Chapter 17

**Thank you for all the reviews – it really helps knowing you enjoy this. I hope you enjoy this.**

When Deacon was ready to leave that night, Rayna walked him to the back door. The conversation had been heavy and Rayna hoped it helped, rather than hurt. He turned to her and took her in his arms, kissing her first lightly on the lips, then more fully. She reached her hands up and put them on his shoulders, then moved up to cradle his head. When he finally pulled back, he ran his thumb down her cheek, looking into her eyes. Then he leaned in and kissed her again softly and left. She stood watching him, wondering if maybe this was a new start for them.

As she straightened up the kitchen, turned out the lights and got changed for bed, she thought about their history. She lay in her bed with the lights out, but unable to close her eyes or her thoughts.

She remembered telling her mother when she was a little girl that she was going to be a country singer one day. And so she had gotten up her courage to sing at open mic night at The Bluebird a month before she turned sixteen. She sang a couple of the songs she had written in her room, on the guitar her mother had given her. She knew they weren't all that polished but when she finished, she was encouraged by the warm applause from the crowd. As she exited the stage, she had been approached by an older man who told her she had a voice like a songbird. He offered to cut a demo for her. She was stunned to find out he was the legendary Watty White.

He told her candidly that although her songs were less than memorable and her guitar playing was average, she had a voice that held great promise. Watty was the one who had introduced her to Deacon. He had told her he had a young guitar player that was also a good singer and an amazing songwriter. He wanted to pair him up with a female singer and thought she fit the bill. Plus he believed this young guy could help her with her songwriting.

Rayna smiled to herself. Watty was a master at knowing how to market performers. She would never know what made him think to pair her with Deacon back then or why he thought Deacon in particular would bring something out in her that she had never known existed. But the day he brought Deacon to meet her, she felt like she had been struck by lightning. She felt light-headed, the butterflies in her stomach working overtime. He was gorgeous, with his dark hair, blue eyes, and scruffy face. She practically choked as she introduced herself. "Hey, I'm Rayna."

He smiled and she melted. "Rayna, huh? That sounds like a good name for a country music star." He reached out to shake her hand. "I'm Deacon."

Watty had definitely known what he doing when he put them together. Their voices blended perfectly and Rayna loved the songs he wrote. When he asked about writing together, she tried to tell him she wasn't a very good writer, but somehow he was able to coax words from her. And she found herself loving to write with him.

She tried introducing him to her father, but Lamar forbade her from seeing him. Which made her even more determined to be with him. Lamar belittled her desire to sing and perform and she would often meet Deacon in tears after a fight. He was sweet and comforting but he also encouraged her to fight for what she wanted.

Then the day came that Watty booked her for a paying gig at a small club. Rayna was so excited she went home and told her father, not only that she had the gig but that Watty White had gotten it for her. Lamar raged at her, seemingly out of proportion to what she had told him, which stunned her. Then he told her she could not sing at the club, that as long as she lived under his roof, she had to follow his rules. She did it anyway and, when Deacon brought her home, she found her bags out on the front lawn.

It was many months before she spoke to her father again. Deacon took her to the apartment of a friend named Amy, who took a distraught Rayna in. It was then that Rayna met Deacon and Amy's friend Vince and the four of them regularly hung out together. She and Deacon began gravitating to each other romantically, much to her delight, and, on her eighteenth birthday, he asked her to move in with him. She remembered throwing her arms around his neck with glee, shouting "Yes! Yes!"

When Rayna thought about her long relationship with Deacon, she tried to focus on the good times. Writing songs, performing, quiet times together, the intensity of their love for each other. He excited her, he turned her on, he made her feel like she was on fire. She had always assumed that one day things would level out, but that passion and intensity never died down. At least on the good days.

It was when Deacon drank that things were scary. It was when he took pills that she felt despair. In the beginning, it was fun to hang out with Vince. But Vince never knew how to stop and he always took Deacon with him. Vince was a subtle drunk though. He was boisterous and fun loving, even if he was a risk taker. Deacon, by contrast, was an angry drunk. Destructive, venomous, scary. He never hurt her, but there were times she was afraid of what he would do, if not to her, to himself.

She dragged him out of bars, out of hotel rooms. She bailed him out of jail. She checked him into and out of hospitals. She would give him ultimatums to go to rehab, and he would, only to slide back into the abyss before too much time had passed. He could get sober, he just couldn't stay that way.

It all blew up when Vince died. He and Deacon had been out drinking and after Vince left the bar, he had driven straight into a tree and been killed instantly. Deacon had blamed himself and went on a downward spiral that had ended with him in the hospital fighting for his own life. That was when Rayna had walked away for good.

Except, of course, for the nights he showed up on her doorstep and she let him in. Because she couldn't completely turn her back on him. Because she couldn't completely turn off her feelings. And out of that had come Maddie.

Rayna remembered the day Maddie was born. Although she had told Deacon everything else, she hadn't told him how she had pleaded with Teddy to let her tell Deacon he had a daughter. She hadn't been strong enough then and let Teddy convince her it was a bad idea.

That had, more than anything, set the marriage up for failure. She had fought Lamar's lifestyle her entire life and yet she had married into it anyway. Liam had told her she was "moms and SUVs" and that had stuck in her craw. She knew that wasn't who she was, even though she loved being mom to Maddie and Daphne. Tandy had compared her to Lamar when they had been in New York and she had rejected that out of hand. But she was doing the same thing with her girls that Lamar had tried to do to her – force her into a life that wasn't authentic. She realized her girls both had her free spirit. Maddie had a double dose because of Deacon. She thought, if they could work through all this, she and Deacon could give Maddie and Daphne a richer life and let them all truly be who they were meant to be.

###

As Deacon drove home, he could still feel Rayna's lips on his, feel the warmth of her skin. As much as he had tried to distance himself from her, and he had, he couldn't stop being drawn back. She was a part of him and he couldn't imagine life without her. When she lay in the hospital unconscious all those weeks ago, he knew he would have been an empty shell if he hadn't woken up.

He remembered when Watty introduced him to her. He had been pissed that Watty thought he needed a partner, especially a teenage girl, as though he wasn't good enough on his own. But when he first laid eyes on the tall, leggy redhead with the wide open smile and cute freckles dancing across her nose, he had lost his heart. He had always had a thing for blondes or sultry brunettes, but this red-gold haired angel ruined him for every other woman.

She had the perfect name – Rayna. It sounded like a country music name. It sounded like a caress. And it fit with his. Rayna and Deacon. Deacon and Rayna. He liked to call her "Ray". He was the only person she allowed to call her that. She told him once that when he called her Ray it was like they were the only two people in the room and that it made her want to drag him off somewhere, anywhere, and jump his bones. Which he had let her do right then, happily.

When he first heard her sing, he was mesmerized. Even now, there was no female singer he enjoyed more. Hearing her sing his songs made him proud. When they sang their love songs, he often felt like he could hardly breathe. When they sang to each other, it always felt like they were completely alone, even if they were on stage in a packed arena. He missed that.

Vince would tease him sometimes about standing in Rayna's shadow. Pick at him a little about letting her outshine him. Vince loved Rayna like a sister, but he was protective of his buddy. But it made Deacon mad. Even though he hadn't been happy when Watty suggested it, once he met Rayna he just wanted to be with her. And he knew the contributions he made to their partnership. As did she. He was still the primary songwriter and he was the one who helped her sound good. The fact that, for so many years, he was the one that got to go home with her at night was reason enough for him for doing it.

During the early years, when they barely made ends meet, it seemed that all they lived on was love. Deacon thought about the fact that they almost never said the words "I love you" to each other. It was as though it was understood. When they got their first chance to perform in an arena, they were just an opening act. But that was when they started their ritual of sitting in the nosebleed section as a way of reminding them to play for the people who couldn't get as close to the music as the people who paid a lot of money to be up front. They had laughed out loud, feeling like they had finally made it. And he had turned to her and said "Rayna Jaymes, I love you."

She looked at him and smiled and said "I know. I've always known that." She leaned over and kissed him. "I love you too, Deacon Claybourne." And then they had stumbled back to their dressing room and pulled each others' clothes off, making love quickly before they had to make sound check. Deacon smiled to himself thinking about how hard it always was for him to keep his hands off her. And vice versa. They never were able to get enough of each other. That never changed. Even when times were bad.

He thought about how he had struggled with booze. With pills. He had put her through a lot over the years. He had always worried the day would come when he'd gone too far and she walked out for good. But he never could make himself stop drinking, stop taking pills. He would go to rehab and get better for awhile and then come home and before too long he'd find himself in a bar, or worse, with Vince. As time went on the good times with Rayna became fewer. She was angry or hurt or disappointed with him. But he couldn't figure out how to stop for good. He hated the look in her eyes whenever she would drag him out of a bar or pick him up from jail or check him out of the hospital. He hated disappointing her.

Then Vince died. They had been out, as always, drinking. Drinking too much. Vince was ready to go home. Deacon was not. And so he let him leave. And he drove off the road, hit a tree, and died. That was when everything died. Including his relationship with Rayna. That's when she moved out for good, when she started dating Teddy, when she turned away from him and told him he was on his own. When he found himself in jail, seriously hung over, not knowing what had happened to him the night before, he went to rehab one last time. And made a promise to himself he would kick his addiction this time.

He was gone a long time this time. Long enough to realize he was lucky to be alive. But when he got back to Nashville, Rayna was married and pregnant. He remembered sitting in a bar with a glass of whiskey in front of him. It didn't seem worth it, because he had truly lost her. As he sat there, he finally had come to realization that he had to make this work this time. Even if he never got her back, he wanted Rayna to be proud of him.

He pulled up to his house and sat there for a moment thinking about how he had thrown away thirteen years of sobriety. He remembered the first time he'd seen Rayna with Maddie and that she had seemed sad. Now he understood why. He wanted to make Rayna proud of him again. He knew that she was a part of him, just like he had known it all those years ago when she was just sixteen and he was nineteen.

He walked up to his front steps and sat down, pulling out his phone. He scrolled down to her number and hit call.

Rayna picked up the phone and when she saw it was Deacon, she smiled. "Hey," she answered.

"Hey." He paused. "I didn't wake you up, did I?"

Rayna laughed softly. "No, of course not."

Deacon smiled. "It was good being with you tonight."

"Yes, it was."

"I was thinking….maybe we could date."

Rayna laughed. "Date? You mean like teenagers date?"

Deacon laughed too. "Yeah, I guess so. I mean, we never did that. Maybe we should."

Rayna could feel tears welling up in her eyes. "I think that would be nice."

"Ok, then. Why don't we meet at the coffee shop tomorrow? For a breakfast date."

"A late one, ok? Maybe more like brunch?"

"It's a date." He hung up and then got up and went in his house, smiling.

Rayna smiled, rolled over and hugged her pillow. She was going to have a hard time sleeping tonight.


	18. Chapter 18

She and Deacon were dating. That wasn't entirely accurate, but that was what Deacon called it and she wasn't sure what else to call it. It wasn't dating in the traditional sense – dinner and a movie or going to a concert or an event. And she and Deacon had never actually dated, which made this a first. In the beginning they had written songs together or performed together. They would go out to bars with Vince and his girlfriend of the week. They had moved in together when she was 18 and he was 21. So this was new.

They would sometimes meet at the coffee shop that Deacon liked for breakfast. Or he brought dinner to her house. Or they met at some hole in the wall place for lunch. Sometimes they met at the bridge near the river and just sat and talked. Deacon never came and picked her up. She always drove herself. They never talked about that, but it was as though they both knew that being in the same car was too raw a place to be. They talked. A lot. Which they also hadn't done before. But unlike the early days when there were no secrets, now there had been and they needed to work through those. Sometimes they held hands, sometimes they kissed, but it was different. Tentative, exploring, cautious.

They also laughed a lot. Rayna was especially glad they could laugh together now. It had been a long time since they'd felt that comfortable with each other, at least enough to laugh and have some fun. That felt good.

There were still times they argued. About trust, about all that had been lost, about Deacon's lapse in sobriety. Those times usually ended with Deacon leaving, angry. Rayna always worried at those times, fearful he would lapse again, fearful he wouldn't come back. She remembered the days when they would fight and she never worried. She always knew they would work their way back to each other, even during the time she was married to Teddy. But everything was still so fragile now. She couldn't be sure.

They were creating something different this time though. They both felt it. In the middle of the night, as they both struggled to find rest, if someone had asked, they would both have answered yes to the question: is the love still there? But they would also have said this time it's different, this time we acknowledge it can be fragile, and this time yes, we will fight for it.

Rayna decided that didn't mean she had to fight fair.

###

As things seemed to be improving in the relationship arena, Rayna found herself more ready to get her career moving again. Her popularity seemed to soar in the aftermath of the accident, which felt uncomfortable to her. The whole idea that people would get energized by the "singer who comes back from the brink of death" story seemed creepy. She didn't really think she'd been on the brink of death, for one thing, and capitalizing on the accident didn't feel right to her. There had been a great deal of speculation as to why she and Deacon were in the SUV together, a lot of stories resurrecting the known details of their past relationship, his addiction issues, her marriage to and divorce from Teddy Conrad. She had given only one interview after she left the hospital and was characteristically circumspect about the details, stressing the long friendship she'd had with Deacon rather than focusing on rumors. In hindsight, it was probably fortuitous that they had not attended the CMA's together, allowing her to skirt the question as to whether prior to the accident they had resumed their romantic relationship. She tried focusing more on the stresses of the tour and the series of events surrounding the death of Juliette Barnes' mother as the tour was ending as reasons for them being together. It was easier that way. If they moved forward with their relationship now, it would not be as troublesome, she hoped.

The songs that she had released during the Red Lips, White Lies tour had shot to the top of the charts and fans, as well as the people at Edgehill Republic, were clamoring for her album to finally be released. So her first order of business was to reconnect with Liam. Even though he agreed to a meeting when Bucky called him, she was apprehensive and concerned with how he would react to her. When she had abandoned him for Deacon the night they were scheduled to fly to St. Lucia, he'd been furious, and had sent over her tracks with a torn up plane ticket. The message seemed to be "I'm done with you", but she was pretty sure that after some time had gone by that he would get past it. Of course, with the accident and her recovery, that time had turned into long months. Hopefully enough time for hurt feelings to heal.

Rayna and Bucky walked up to his studio and she hesitated. She turned to Bucky. "How did he seem when you talked to him? Do you think he's going to be willing to work with me to finish this?"

Bucky shrugged. "I didn't sense any animosity. He asked how you were and seemed concerned about that. He may be like everyone else and the accident changed his perspective. We'll find out." He took her arm and helped her up over the curb.

Rayna reached out and knocked on the door. Almost immediately it opened and there stood Liam. She couldn't help but feel some butterflies. He was still adorably hot. He smiled down at her. "Hey there, Ms. Jaymes. Glad to see you've come back to the living." He opened the door wider and she and Bucky walked in.

She turned to face him. "Thanks for seeing us, Liam. I appreciate it."

He gave her a little salute. "No problem. After Bucky groveled an appropriate amount of time, it only seemed fair."

"Hey now," Bucky said with a grin.

Rayna smiled. "Well, however it happened, thank you." She took a deep breath and let it out. "Um, so we're here to see if you would be willing to finish up the album with me. I totally understand if you don't want to, but I still think you are a great producer and I'd like for you to finish it."

Liam shrugged. "I'm up for it. I don't think you need but a couple more songs anyway, so it's doable." He smiled at her and then seemed to drop the polite aloofness. "I'm really glad to see you're ok. When I heard about the accident, I was really worried about you." He reached out and gently squeezed her arm. "I still think you're a hot mama, Ms. Jaymes. Even if you did stand me up."

Rayna felt herself well up a little and she leaned in to hug Liam. She was surprised to still feel some of the chemistry she'd had with him before. She didn't want to act on it now, but it surprised her all the same. He held her about a minute longer than he should have and then backed off. "I appreciate that," she said. "I'm finally feeling ready to get back into the game."

"Yeah, you've got some catching up to do with Miss Nasty. She's pulled ahead a little with you being down for the count."

Rayna rolled her eyes and smiled. "I'm not competing with Juliette Barnes anymore. Thankfully. Or singing with her."

Liam clapped his hands together and looked between Rayna and Bucky. "Ok, then, we'll need to schedule some time to get this thing finished. Bucky, I'll let you know the schedule. And Rayna, if you have anything you want to use, just bring it with you."

"Thanks, Liam, we appreciate it," Bucky said. "I'll wait to hear from you."

Rayna reached for Liam's hand and smiled gratefully. "Thanks, Liam. I appreciate this. And I'm very glad to be able to finish this up with you."

Liam nodded. "Me too."

Rayna just stood for a moment, feeling a bit emotional, but also feeling happy. She was ready to move forward and she was glad that Liam didn't harbor animosity. Then she raised her hand in a kind of wave and she and Bucky turned and walked out. When they were outside, she took Bucky's arm. "Thank God for that. I told you he'd be a big boy about it."

Bucky grinned at her. "Yeah, you did. So, I'll let you know when he sends me the schedule."

###

When Rayna and Deacon met for their breakfast date that weekend, she told him about the meeting with Liam. Deacon frowned. "You couldn't work with someone else?" he asked.

Rayna smiled. "Does it bother you?"

"You kind of had a thing with him, is all." He looked a little pissed.

"You're jealous," she said, with a laugh.

He glared at her. "No, I'm not. But he was all over you at one time. Who's to say he won't try that again?"

Rayna sat back with a self-satisfied smile on her face. "Oh, I think that ship has sailed a long time ago. Back when I no-showed on him at the airport." She winked at Deacon. "It's all business now. And it'll just be a couple days, a week at most, just to finish the album. I seriously doubt he's gonna want to work with me again. He's being professional right now, but that'll be the end of it." She took a lot of pleasure in Deacon's grumpiness about the whole Liam thing.

Deacon was annoyed that Rayna was going to work with Liam, even if just for a week. He had not liked Liam's moves on Rayna back during the tour and he had liked her interest in him even less. It surprised him a little to realize the depth of his annoyance and just how much it bothered him for her to spend time with Liam. And yeah, he was a little bit jealous. He wasn't going to admit to that to her, though. But he reminded himself that was what this "dating" thing was about – spending time reconnecting. And as they reconnected, his feelings for her were intensifying again. And he didn't like the idea of Liam. Even for a week. And so he brooded. And he could tell Rayna was enjoying it.

###

As things moved forward with finishing the album, the label started talking about a tour. Rayna finally felt ready. Bucky had set things in motion and he called her to talk some details. "We've got a meeting at the label tomorrow," he said. "They want to talk dates and locations. You'll be glad to know that they're talking an arena tour. You're a hot commodity right now."

Rayna chuckled. "So are we gonna call this the 'Back from the Brink of Death' tour? Or maybe the 'Thank God She's Alive' tour?"

Bucky laughed. He was glad that Rayna seemed to be in a happier place these days. He knew things were better with Deacon and that always made her life better. Which also made his life easier. "No, we haven't named it yet, but we can talk about that when we meet. Oh and, by the way, there's a new guy that we're going to be working with. Marshall's new right hand, a guy named Jeff."

Rayna rolled her eyes. "Oh, geez, Buck, I don't want to have to work with someone that doesn't know me. Have you met him yet?"

"No. I've heard he's pretty cutting edge though, so maybe it's what you need. Someone who thinks outside the box. You may be the hottest thing going right now, but we should really capitalize on the changes that you were making during the Red Lips tour. Maybe he's the right guy to make that happen."

Rayna shrugged. "Ok. We'll see."

"We're also going to have to talk about the band, Rayna. With the long layoff, we've got a few holes to fill. People got snapped up." He paused. "Like Adria."

"Yeah. She called me. I can't blame her for going out with Carrie." She paused. "So, I have a thought about that and we can talk about it tomorrow. Are you picking me up?"

"Yes. Our meeting's at 2." Bucky smiled on his end. He was pretty sure she was going to talk to him about seeing if Deacon would come back. A year ago, he knew Deacon would have jumped at it, but he wondered if the same would be true today. If things had moved forward enough that he'd be willing to consider it.

###

Rayna felt nervous excitement as she and Bucky walked into Edgehill's offices. She was ready to get back to work. The week with Liam finishing the album had been envigorating and had gotten her juices flowing again. She had not realized how much she had missed performing and was glad to get things started up again. As they were led back to the conference room, she wondered what this Jeff guy would be like. She hoped this meeting would not be as awkward as her first meeting with Marshall more than a year ago.

When they walked in, a tall handsome man stood up and walked towards them, his hand extended. "Ms. Jaymes, I am very happy to meet you. I'm Jeff Harrison."

Rayna took his hand and smiled. Wow, this guy is gorgeous, she thought and then felt a little embarrassed at her thought. But he was. Tall, dark hair, whiskey colored eyes, great smile. "It's very nice to meet you, Jeff. And please call me Rayna." She gave him a flirty look. "I'm very excited to hear your ideas about the tour." She was pretty sure he'd be more fun to work with than Marshall. And she couldn't wait to tell Deacon about him.

###

The meeting went incredibly well. They planned a 50 city tour, all arenas. They would work out the dates to allow Rayna some down time to work with Scarlett and Will, as well as give her time with the girls during their school breaks. At the end of the meeting, Jeff asked her to go to dinner to discuss more specifics and arranged to come pick her up that evening. As Bucky drove her home, Rayna talked about the meeting. "I thought that went really well. He really does seem to have a different vision than Marshall. I like him."

Bucky looked at her and winked. "I could tell. You certainly were flirting with him."

Rayna laughed. "If a little flirting can ensure that I get what I want, why not?"

"Is that all it is?"

Rayna smiled slyly. "Of course. What else would it be?"

Bucky raised his eyebrows at her, but didn't say a word. He was pretty sure this was a calculated move on her part and he was also pretty sure that before too long, Deacon would hear all about it.

At dinner with Jeff, Rayna found out quickly that he really didn't want to talk much about the tour. He asked her about her girls, her past, what she liked to do for fun. She found it interesting that he didn't ask her any questions about the accident or about Deacon. She wasn't sure if he just didn't want to know or thought those were sensitive areas she wouldn't want to discuss. As she learned more about him, she realized he was a smart man and decided it was the latter.

Before they left the restaurant, they stopped at the bar and had a drink. "So, Rayna," he said. "I'm very impressed by your ability to stay above the fray in this day and age, when everything someone does gets tweeted or Facebooked within seconds. How do you manage that?"

She leaned back with her glass of wine and took a sip, hoping she looked thoughtful. "I've just always considered my private life private," she responded. "I don't go out much, unless it's an industry event, so it's easy to keep those kinds of details out of sight. I always consider wherever I am, whether it's a show or a meet and greet or a label event, to be my place of business. And I learned very early that you conduct yourself professionally in your place of business. One thing I actually learned from my father." And she laughed at the thought of that.

Jeff nodded. "Good lesson." He raised his glass to her. "And good to know." He took a swallow of his scotch. "I've really enjoyed tonight."

Rayna smiled at him. "I have too. I'm glad I got the chance to get to know you a little better. Marshall was never as sociable."

"Well, Marshall is focused on the business end. As he should be. And as I am. But I'm probably more comfortable in the social arena. Which is a good thing at a record label, I believe."

Rayna nodded. "I would imagine so."

He leaned forward. "So, as I said, I've really enjoyed tonight. I'd like to do it again sometime."

Rayna swallowed her wine and coughed as she choked a bit. She cleared her throat. "Well, um, I didn't expect that."

"Rayna, you're smart, talented, fun, interesting, beautiful. I like you. I'd really like to see more of you."

Rayna took another sip of her wine as she thought about that. Maybe he had no clue about Deacon. She really hadn't considered that. She smiled at him. "I'm very flattered, Jeff. But you know that I just got out of a fourteen year marriage. And there's a lot going on with my girls. I'm trying to concentrate right now on working through all of the fallout from that." Which was true. He didn't really need to know that she was also working on her relationship with Deacon. She _was_ flattered, though.

She thought he might be surprised how little experience she'd had with men and relationships. Deacon had been her first relationship, which had, of course, lasted more than a decade. Then there was Teddy. And the brief dalliance with Liam. Under different circumstances, she might have been interested in Jeff. He was certainly handsome and charming. Smart and interesting, like he'd told her she was. But he also kind of reminded her of Teddy….

"But we will spend time together," she went on, "with the tour and all of that. So I look forward to getting to know you better." She could see the disappointment in his eyes, but it was gone in an instant.

He smiled back at her. "Indeed we will. And I look forward to that."

When he took her home, he kissed her lightly on the cheek at the back door. "Thanks for dinner, Jeff," she said. "I'm looking forward to hearing what you come up with for the tour." She let herself in the house and poured herself a glass of wine and sat at the counter. She pulled her phone out of her purse, scrolled down, and clicked on Deacon's name.

"Hey, Ray," he answered.

She smiled to herself. "Hey, babe. So let me tell you about my day today."


	19. Chapter 19

"So let me tell you about my day," Rayna said.

"Weren't you having a meeting at Edgehill today?" Deacon asked.

"Yeah, we did. Looks like we're going to start the tour in about 8 weeks. Open in Brooklyn. 50 dates. I'm going to have Scarlett and Will each open half the dates, so some good exposure for them. But don't say anything to Scarlett yet, because she doesn't know."

Deacon smiled on his end. "I won't say a word. She'll be so excited, I know. She already idolizes you and to open for Rayna Jaymes? It'll be a dream come true for her." He was really proud of his niece and all she had accomplished since coming to Nashville. "So, arenas?"

"Yeah. I guess when people think you're going to die, they want to see how you did."

Deacon frowned on his end. "You shouldn't be so flip, Ray. It was tough seeing you that way."

Rayna had never mentioned to him that she'd known he'd come to see her when she was unconscious. "So you did come to see me." She could hear him breathe in.

"Actually I sat with you both nights I was there."

That she had not known. "I didn't know that," she said quietly.

"Well, I was worried. It didn't seem real positive those first couple days." He didn't really want to talk about that, so he changed the subject. "So when do you start rehearsals?"

Rayna was still processing the fact that, even when he was so angry, he'd been by her side. "Um, we need to start soon. In fact, that's the main reason I called you. Adria called me the other day and she's leaving to go out with Carrie Underwood. So I was wondering. Would you be interested in coming back to work with me?"

Deacon was silent on his end. He had heard about Adria and he'd wondered if Rayna would approach him. He wasn't sure if it was a good idea. At least yet. "I don't know, Ray. Can you let me think about it?"

Rayna was a little disappointed, but not surprised. It was a big step and she knew Deacon might think it was too much, too soon. "Sure," she replied.

Deacon knew she was disappointed. But he hadn't said no. Yet. "So, we're still on tomorrow?"

"Absolutely. I'll see you then." And she clicked off.

She walked upstairs and peeked in each of the girls' rooms to see them sleeping soundly. Since she hadn't been out that late, she had finally agreed that Maddie could be in charge, with Tandy on speed dial in case of an emergency. She hoped she didn't hear any whiny stories from Daphne in the morning. She went back down to her own room and changed into one of the flannel shirts she had stolen from Deacon when she'd moved out and workout shorts. She crawled into bed and lay there thinking about the dating thing. She was ready to move things forward, but Deacon seemed to be content, so she was trying to shake things up. The Liam thing had gotten him a little worked up, but not enough. So tomorrow she'd pull out the Jeff card. She had not been planning on that, but it had fallen into her lap so she thought she'd be foolish not to use it to her advantage. She rolled onto her side and closed her eyes, smiling.

###

Rayna was going to meet Deacon at the bridge. She had told him she would bring sandwiches. She smiled to herself as she thought about what a lousy cook she was. She had never really learned and what she did try often turned out bad. She and Deacon had either eaten food out of a can or take out. Teddy was a good cook, thankfully, and he had been a godsend while they were married. The girls, at least, had good meals. She was good at sandwiches though. Maddie and Daphne had assured her of that.

Sandwiches were easy. Meat and cheese. And bread. No tomato, though, unless you were eating it right then. Daphne had told her, in no uncertain terms, that tomato on a sandwich that was going to sit for a while turned the bread "ooey, gooey". So no tomato. That meant no lettuce either, because that was boring without tomato. She put extra meat and extra cheese on the sandwiches and added chips and apples. She felt good today. She was ready to move things along with Deacon and she hoped she had the right ammunition.

Rayna got to their meeting spot first. She was glad to have a few minutes to herself to collect her thoughts. She heard his truck pull up and the door open and slam shut. She looked back over her shoulder to see him jump down and walk over to her. He sat next to her, their shoulders and thighs touching. He leaned in and kissed her. The "date kiss", Rayna thought of it. A kiss on the lips that didn't have the heat and passion of a real full on kiss. That's mostly what they'd done. The date kiss. She was tired of the date kiss.

She smiled. "I brought sandwiches. With no tomato."

He looked at her with mock disappointment. "No tomato?"

Rayna shook her head. "Daphne says it makes the bread 'ooey gooey'. So tomato only if you eat it right then."

Deacon laughed. "That Daphne is smart." He looked back at her. "So, Bucky called me this morning with the same offer you made last night. You two don't coordinate that stuff?"

Rayna laughed. "I jumped the gun. So what did you tell him?"

Deacon looked off towards the horizon. "Same thing I told you."

Rayna looked down and nodded. "Don't take too long."

"I won't." He rested his elbows on his knees and was quiet for a moment. Then he turned his head towards her. "Did Maddie tell you I was picking her up today?"

Rayna rolled her eyes. "Hell, no."

Deacon bit his lip. "I guess I don't have that authoritative 'do what I tell you' thing down yet. She was supposed to tell you."

Rayna grinned. "It's not you, Deacon. She's a teenager. They do what they want, not what you tell them."

He laughed. "Ok then. I guess in the future, I need to tell you when we make plans."

Rayna winked. "If you don't want me to fuss, then yeah." She rested her own elbows on her knees. "So what are y'all doing?"

"She wants me to work with her on her guitar playing. Not that she needs me for that, but I do enjoy playing with her. She's really good."

Rayna nudged his shoulder. "She gets that from you."

Deacon smiled. "I guess. I know she gets her voice from you. Both your girls do."

Rayna blushed a little. "They _are_ good, I have to admit. Better than I was at that age."

Deacon made a face. "That's not true."

Rayna shrugged. "Well, I'm glad she wants to do this with you. I think she enjoys spending time with you." She was glad they had gotten to the place where they could talk about Maddie without Deacon getting all angry and pouty.

"I feel the same way."

They sat quietly for a bit and then Rayna said, "I'm going to be at the Opry in two weeks. Introducing Will and announcing the tour."

"Did you pick a name?" Deacon asked with a wink.

Rayna smiled. "We did. 'Stronger'. I liked it. Jeff thought it worked and it plays off 'Stronger than Me'."

Deacon frowned. "Who's Jeff?"

"Oh, the new guy at Edgehill. Marshall's right hand. He's in charge of my album and the tour. Very nice guy. We had dinner last night and got to know each other."

Deacon looked gloomy. Rayna was trying not to react. "You couldn't do it all at your meeting? Was Bucky there?"

Rayna shook her head. She had to turn slightly away from him. "No, just Jeff and me. It was a fun evening." She didn't want to overplay her hand.

Deacon brought his hands up to his mouth and exhaled audibly. "Dammit, Rayna," he said and then he turned and reached his hand behind her neck, pulling her to him. He kissed her, not the 'date kiss', but a real full on, meaningful kiss. At first it felt full of anger but then it changed to one full of passion. Rayna leaned into him, wrapped her arms around his waist and draped her leg over his. When he finally pulled away, he still stayed close. "If you're trying to test my limits, consider yourself successful." Rayna smiled and he glared. "No more Liam, no more Jeff. Ok?"

Rayna bit her lip. "Does this mean we're going steady?" She couldn't help it.

Deacon stared at her and then finally his face softened and he gave her a little half smile. "Yeah, I guess." In response, she kissed him again. Then he said, "Oh, and I guess I'll accept your offer. It sounds like I need to keep an eye on you."

Rayna smiled. It seemed like they were headed in the right direction.


	20. Chapter 20

**I'm not super excited about this chapter, but I see it more as a bridge to the beginning of the end of the story.**

Tandy was amused at Rayna's ranting over how slowly things were moving with Deacon. Rayna was pacing in the den, waving her arms as she did. "So we finally move from the date kiss to the real kiss and we still haven't gone beyond a little, you know, foreplay. What's his problem?"

Tandy laughed. "Foreplay? You mean like heavy petting?"

Rayna blushed. "I don't know. What's that?"

Tandy looked surprised. "You really are naïve, aren't you, babe? I can tell you've only been with two men. 'Heavy petting' is basically everything except intercourse. A lot of serious touching in those nether regions."

Rayna's mouth dropped open and she blushed furiously. "Well, yeah, I guess that's it." She took a breath. "But this is the kind of stuff we did back when I was, I don't know, 16 maybe? So why now? It's not like we haven't had sex before."

Tandy raised her eyebrows. "Oh, so you had sex for the first time when you were 16?"

Rayna cut her eyes away. "I don't remember. Maybe 17." She looked back at her sister. "That's not the point. The point is that we haven't done just heavy petting, or whatever you call it, in years. At least not just that. I'm not sure what he's waiting for."

"Oh, sweetheart, he probably has something very special planned. Some night to remember."

Rayna gave her a look. "Seriously? Deacon? Are you kidding?"

Tandy shrugged. "Well, I don't know. He could be courting you. Something new he's learned."

Rayna shook her head and made a face. "I can't imagine Deacon 'courting' me."

"Well, isn't that really what all this has been though? The dates, the kisses? Courting. I like courting." Tandy smiled a saucy smile.

Rayna rolled her eyes. "Says the woman who's getting lots of sex. Who's not me."

Tandy laughed. "Just be patient, babe. I know you're going to get what you want soon enough."

Rayna stomped her foot and whirled around to face her sister. "He needs to hurry!"

###

Later that afternoon, Rayna drove to pick up the girls at school. She smiled as they jumped in the car, Maddie in the front, Daphne in the back. Maddie looked over at her mother. "So, Mom, can you drop us off at Deacon's?"

Rayna turned back sharply and gaped at Maddie. "Deacon's? When was this decided?"

Maddie gave Rayna her look that said she thought her mom was clueless. "I called him at lunch time. So can we go?"

"What are you going to be doing there?"

Maddie shrugged. "Stuff."

"How come this is the first I'm hearing about this?"

"Because it just happened today. Duh." Maddie turned away and Rayna knew she was rolling her eyes. "He'll bring us home."

Rayna sighed loudly, but she headed for Deacon's. When they got there, she parked in front of his house. Both girls hopped out. Rayna put down the passenger side window. "Wait. Both of you?" she called out as they were hurrying up the steps.

Daphne turned. "Yes, Mom. She told you that."

Just then Deacon walked out on the porch. He said something to her girls that she couldn't hear and then looked towards her. She made a face and gestured with her arms like "what's going on?" He walked down the steps and leaned against the car door. "I thought you were going to let me know when you made plans with Maddie," Rayna said in exasperation.

Deacon chuckled. "Sorry. My fault. It's not a problem, is it?"

"No. But Daphne too?" She looked puzzled.

Deacon shrugged. "They both wanted to come. I think they just want to practice their singing while Maddie works on the guitar."

Daphne came back out on the porch. "Deacon!" she called, sounding annoyed.

He looked back at her and laughed. He turned back to Rayna. "I guess I better go. I'll bring them home." He leaned in a little further. "And I'll see you tomorrow?"

Rayna smiled. "Yeah. Bucky and I have a meeting at the label tomorrow morning. I'll let you know when we're done."

Deacon scowled. "With Jeff?" He said Jeff as though he were using air quotes.

Rayna's smile got wider. "Yes. But Scarlett and Will are going to be there too. Don't worry."

"I'm not." He pushed up from the side of the car. "See you later."

Rayna raised her hand in a wave and he did as well, then turned to walk back to his house. She was smiling as she drove off.

###

When Rayna and Bucky got to Edgehill's offices, Will and Scarlett were already in the conference room with Jeff. She first walked over to Jeff and smiled her best flirty smile. "Hey, Jeff, it's really good to see you again."

"You too, Rayna. Are you getting psyched about the tour?" Jeff held on to her hand a few seconds longer than necessary.

She took her hand back, thinking maybe the flirty thing was too much. "I am," she said, still smiling. "And I'm happy to report that I got Deacon Claybourne back in the band." She glanced over at Scarlett, who grinned happily at that news.

Jeff nodded. He was aware, of course, of Rayna's history with Deacon, at least what she allowed to be made public about her long relationship with him. "I'm glad to hear that. I know your fans will be happy to hear you do some of the old songs. Along with all your new songs, of course."

"Of course." She walked around the table to where Scarlett and Will had been sitting and were now standing and hugged them both. "I'm so glad to see you both."

"We're both excited to hear what you've got going on, Ms. Jaymes," Will said, gesturing between himself and Scarlett.

"And thank you for asking my uncle back," Scarlett said softly. Rayna squeezed her hand.

"Will, you _can_ call me Rayna," she said to Will, winking at him.

He smiled deferentially. "I know, ma'am, but I was just raised to be polite."

Clearly, she thought. It always surprised her, coming from someone who told her he roped steers when she'd met him. She went back to the other side of the table and sat down across from Will and Scarlett, Bucky and Jeff on either side of her. She smiled at them. "So, Will, Scarlett, you are here for a reason. A really big reason. You, of course, know that Bucky and I have been working with you to pull together a catalog for yourselves and the reason for that is because I would like for the two of you to split duty opening for my tour."

Scarlett looked like she was going to faint. Will jumped up and rushed around the table to grab her hand. "Thank you, Ms. Jaymes. I mean, Rayna. Thank you so much for this opportunity!"

Rayna laughed. "I'm so glad you're excited. I want both of you to have some good solid exposure so that you get started on the right foot. I could not be more pleased to have you come out on tour with me." She looked at Jeff. "Jeff's team will work up the schedule and let you know." She pushed back from the table and stood up. "Will, I'll see you in a week at the Opry."

"Oh, yes, ma'am," he said, grinning broadly.

"Scarlett, if you'd like to come, I'd love to have you there as my guest."

"Oh, yes, I would. Thank you so much for inviting me."

She turned to Jeff. "I'm planning to announce the tour at the Opry. And we'll start rehearsals right after that. I hope you'll come down to watch."

"I wouldn't miss it," he smiled warmly at her. Scarlett eyed them and wondered whether Deacon knew that Jeff was interested in Rayna. She certainly wouldn't tell him, as she didn't see it as her place, but she did wonder what he would think. But, of course, if Deacon was rejoining Rayna's band, that had to mean something.

Rayna waved at Will and Scarlett and then she and Bucky walked out. As they were riding down the elevator, Bucky smiled and winked at her. "I would have thought now that you've gotten Deacon back into the fold, that you wouldn't need to keep flirting with Jeff."

Rayna blushed. "Has Tandy been talking out of school?"

He grinned. "Well, you know Tandy." He squeezed her arm lightly. "She's just happy for you."

"Mm hm," Rayna said with a tiny smile on her face. She put her arm around Bucky's shoulders and hugged him. "I just have to keep the pressure on."

###

From the car, Rayna called Deacon. When he answered, she said "Hey, there. My meeting's over and Bucky's taking me home. Meet you in an hour or so?"

"I'll be there," he responded.

"Bye." She ended the call and sat back in the seat, smiling to herself.

"Is that another 'date'?" Bucky asked.

Rayna turned to him and gaped. "That Tandy really needs to keep her mouth shut."

Bucky laughed out loud.

###

This time, Deacon was waiting for her at the bridge. When she walked up to him, she stood in front of him, leaned in and kissed him. He put his hands on her waist and pulled her close to him and kissed her deeply. She wound her hands around his neck and through his hair. She didn't want the kiss to end. Or rather, she did, but she thought it wouldn't be prudent for them to tear each other's clothes off out in the open like this. She stepped up and sat down next to him. He grabbed her hand and entwined his fingers with hers, resting them on his leg. "Hey, babe," she said, her voice rough with desire.

He smiled and leaned into her shoulder. "How was your meeting?"

"It went well. Scarlett and Will were excited about touring with me. I'm excited for them." She laid her head on his shoulder. "I told Jeff we'd start rehearsals after the Opry show." She could feel Deacon stiffen.

"Rayna…" he started. She turned her head to look at his profile and she could see him working his lip like he did when he was pissed or annoyed. She reached up and cupped his cheek and jaw. He breathed out. "You're killing me, Ray."

She ran her thumb over his mouth and he bit it lightly. She smiled a small smile. "You don't have to worry." He exhaled sharply. She decided to change the subject. She wanted him to feel a little jealous, but she didn't want to agitate him. "I wanted to talk to you about Maddie."

He turned to look at her. "What about her?"

She shrugged. "I just wondered how you thought things were going. She won't really talk to me about it. She gets all angsty and huffy when I ask. And gives me all these one word answers."

"Everything's fine." And then he smiled at her, realizing he'd just done the same thing she'd accused Maddie of doing. "It's been nice spending time with her. I think she's had a good time. We play together, has she told you that? Work on songs together?"

"All she's really said is that you've been helping her. When I ask her what you're helping her with, she rolls her eyes at me and says 'stuff'." Rayna rolled her eyes. "Teenagers are ridiculously frustrating."

"She has been trying to write some stuff. Don't tell her I told you or she'll probably quit talking to me about it." Rayna grinned. Deacon ran his hand over his mouth. "She's really a good guitar player. I've tried to work with her some on riffs and stuff, the more sophisticated stuff, and she catches on really fast." He nudged her. "She's a lot better guitar player than her mama, that's for sure."

Rayna laughed. "Yeah, Watty told me I was average at best and probably would only ever be average. Not very encouraging. That was why he wanted me to work with you."

"Well, and look how that worked out for you," he teased.

"I've always said, without Deacon Claybourne there would be no Rayna Jaymes."

Deacon smiled at her. "I think Maddie and I are really finding a good space. I can still tell it's a bit awkward for her. Hell, it still is some for me too, but she's a great kid." He touched her nose with his finger. "You're a good mama, Ray. You did a good job raising her."

Rayna blushed. "Thank you. But she's a good kid, unless she's being a bratty teenager, which she thankfully isn't most of the time." Her look turned serious. "You've been really good with her. And I've seen her really start to be happier with her life the way it is now."

Deacon clenched her hand firmly. "I'm glad." He let go of her hand and put his arm around her and pulled her into his side. Then he reached down and put his hand on her jaw and turned her face towards his and kissed her. She shifted her body towards him and put one arm around his waist and the other she laid gently on his belt buckle. When she started to move her hand lower, he reached for it and pulled out of the kiss. Against her lips he said, "We can't do that here."

Her voice was thick with desire. "Then where?"

"Not here. Not now."

She sighed. "I want you, Deacon," she whimpered.

"I know." He kissed her hard. "Don't worry, Ray. I'm not running off."


	21. Chapter 21

Tonight Rayna was going to be on stage at the Opry. She hadn't been on stage there since she had announced her new label and introduced Scarlett. That seemed like a lifetime ago. She and Deacon had just gotten back together after thirteen years apart although, truth be told, they had been dancing around their attraction to each other for some time before that. But it had been entirely too brief. The truth had come out about Maddie, Deacon had gotten drunk, they'd been in a car accident after a brutal fight, and they were just now finding their way back to each other.

She was introducing Will Lexington, who would be singing tonight, and she was also announcing her tour. She was ready to get out on stage again. It had been six months since the accident and she had long since healed physically. But emotionally, her life had been in such turmoil that she had not wanted to record or perform for quite some time. She wanted to be available to Maddie, as she navigated the new landscape after the paternity reveal. She had needed to heal her own emotional wounds, but now that she and Deacon were seeing each other again, she felt ready. She'd kept a fairly low public profile, but her record sales were skyrocketing and the label had been pressing for the tour. Now that it was on the books, it was time to make it all real.

Maddie wandered into Rayna's dressing area as she was getting ready for the evening. "Hey there, sweetheart," Rayna said with a smile as she looked at her daughter in the mirror.

Maddie smiled back. "Hey, Mom. Are you excited about tonight?"

"Yeah, I am. It's always a big deal to be on the Opry stage, no matter how many times you've done it. And I'm excited about Will."

Maddie nearly swooned at the mention of Will's name. "He's so cute, Mom. You did good picking him."

Rayna laughed. "He is, isn't he? Plus he's a wonderful singer." She winked at her daughter. "I wish I could take you with me, but it's a school night and all. Maybe next time."

Maddie looked down at her feet. "Yeah, maybe." She looked back at her mom. "Someday I hope I get to sing there."

Rayna turned around to face her. "You know what? If you work really hard at your music and you stay interested in it, then I bet one day you will." She reached for Maddie's hand. "I'm really proud of you, you know that."

Maddie blushed and nodded. "Thanks, Mom."

"And Deacon is too. He always tells me how impressed he is with how good you are on the guitar. He also repeatedly tells me how much better you are than I was." She grinned and Maddie smiled back. Then she looked more serious. "I know the last few months have been hard and confusing, but it seems like things are getting better. Are they?"

Maddie nodded. "Yeah, I think so. Deacon's been really cool about everything too."

"I'm glad, Maddie. That's really all I wanted for you." Rayna turned back towards the mirror and took down her hair, brushing it out. "So did you look at what I'm wearing tonight? Do you approve?"

Maddie nodded. "I do. It's very sexy." She grinned broadly.

Rayna stood up and laughed. "Well, good. Okay now, skedaddle so I can get dressed. I'll come see you and your sister before I go."

###

When she and Bucky got to the Opry, she stopped by the Into the Circle dressing room to see Will. She found Scarlett with him. "Well, hey there, you two," she said with a smile and she walked over to hug Will. "Are you nervous at all, Will?"

Will smiled his hundred watt smile. "Aw, no ma'am, I'm not." Then he laughed and leaned in towards her as though he were telling her a secret. "Actually, I'm scared to death. Scarlett here" – he nodded at a smiling Scarlett – "she's been trying to calm me down, but I'm a big old bunch of nerves, I have to be honest."

Rayna put a hand on his arm. "You're going to be fine. Just like Scarlett was. Just go out there and have fun." She patted his arm. "I will see you out there." Scarlett joined Rayna and Bucky as they walked out to the sidestage. Deacon wasn't playing with the house band that night and she was a little disappointed that she wouldn't see him tonight, but she knew she would see him soon.

A few minutes later, Will was standing next to her and it was almost time for her to introduce him. She had butterflies in her stomach when she heard the Opry announcer say "Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome back the Queen of Country, Miss Rayna Jaymes!" Rayna slowly walked out onto the stage at the Grand Ole Opry to a thunderous standing ovation. Tears sprang to her eyes as she felt the love and affection of the crowd.

"Thank you so much, Nashville!" she said. "I'm so honored to be here with you tonight. I want to introduce you to the other rising star on my label, but before I do that, I'd like to announce that in six weeks I will be starting my next tour in New York City and we will finish here in Nashville." The crowd roared their approval and she smiled her dazzling smile. "But the real reason I'm here tonight is for you to meet Will Lexington, who will be touring with me. He's a great new star on the country music scene and I know you're going to enjoy him." Will came out and she hugged him, then walked back to Bucky and Scarlett and watched proudly as he performed. When he was done, she was surprised to hear her name mentioned again.

"In honor of the return to the Opry stage of our own Rayna Jaymes, we at the Opry have a special surprise for her." Rayna's eyes grew large as she saw Maddie and Daphne walk out onto the stage from the opposite side. "Ladies and gentlemen, please give a warm Opry welcome to Rayna's daughters, Maddie and Daphne!" As the crowd applauded enthusiastically, Maddie and Daphne waved shyly at their mom. Rayna felt tears spring to her eyes. She found herself wondering if somehow Deacon was involved in this. They had chosen to sing the song "Mine", the same one they had performed for Deacon and her weeks earlier.

As they sang, she felt such pride in them. Their young voices were pure and sweet and their smiles were huge. She watched Maddie in particular. The past few months had been stressful for her as she worked through the logistics of two fathers and trying to get to know Deacon more as a father than as a family friend. But both her daughters seemed happy on this night and that made her happy.

Rayna's heart was full as she watched them. She looked at Bucky. "Did you know about this?" He just shrugged, but she saw something in his eye that made her think he did. And then she was startled when she felt arms wrap around her waist and she turned back to see Deacon behind her.

"She's amazing," he whispered into her ear. "They both are."

Rayna smiled and nodded. She leaned into him. "Did you know they were going to do this?"

"Yeah. I have to confess that I helped them." He tightened his grip on her. "I hope you don't mind." She just smiled. She heard Tandy's voice in her head. _He probably has something very special planned. Some night to remember._

When the girls finished, they ran to their mother who wrapped her arms around them joyfully. "Girls, that was wonderful! And such a surprise!" She leaned back and took a hand in each of hers. "I can't believe you did this without me knowing."

Maddie smiled shyly and glanced at Deacon. "Deacon helped us. We just wanted to do something special for you."

"Well, it was definitely special and thank you so much for that." She looked back towards Deacon. "And to Deacon for helping y'all." She looked around. "How did y'all get here?"

"Aunt Tandy brought us. And, we're spending the night with her," Daphne said, looking behind her. Rayna turned and saw a beaming Tandy standing next to Bucky.

"Well, that was really nice of her to do that." She pulled them to her again. "I think y'all have been up late enough though now, so I want to thank you again for such a sweet surprise. And I guess I'll see you tomorrow then." Each of the girls hugged her again and then hugged Deacon.

Tandy and Bucky walked over and Rayna hugged her sister. "Thank you," she whispered in Tandy's ear.

"Remember what I told you?" Tandy whispered back and Rayna nodded, her eyes glistening. Tandy took a step back and mouthed "have fun" and then smiled at Deacon, squeezing his arm. Then she walked off with Bucky and the girls.

Rayna turned back to Deacon. "Thank you for that."

He smiled. "I'm glad they could surprise you. They were both very excited about doing this." He took her hand. "So this has been a big day and it looks like you lost your ride. Can I take you home?"

"That would be nice. I'm ready to get home and get some sleep."

Deacon shook his head. "No, I want to take you home." He emphasized the word "home".

Rayna felt butterflies in her stomach. She reached up to touch his face and smiled. "I would love that."


	22. Chapter 22

Rayna felt a little nervous, a little giddy as she walked out to Deacon's car with him, holding hands. She hadn't been to his house since before the CMA's, before everything blew up. Since she'd been home from the hospital, he would come by her house to spend time with Maddie. They had "dated", giving them time alone together. But he hadn't invited her to his house. Their house.

It had been their house before it was his house. They had bought it after her third gold record and her first CMA award. She had loved living there with him and had hated leaving it that last time. And even though it had been a long time since she had lived there and Deacon had done a lot of updating to it since she'd been gone, it still felt like their house. She still felt at home there. More than she had felt at home anywhere else in her life.

They didn't talk much on the drive. It was actually the first time they had been in a car together since the accident and the air was pungent with the memories of the last time they had been in Deacon's car. Different car, obviously, since the other one was totaled, but it was as though they had silently agreed that there would be no conversation, or very little, no distractions this time. No ending like the last time they had been in a vehicle together.

When they got to the house, she started to open the door. "Wait," Deacon said and he got out, came around and opened her door. She smiled as he took her hand and helped her out. He kept hold of her hand and she walked a step or two behind him up to the back door. He unlocked it and then she followed him inside to the kitchen. The light over the stove was on, giving the room a soft glow. He turned to her, gently took her in his arms and kissed her lips lightly. "Hey," he said against her mouth.

"Hey," she said with a smile. He ran his hands over her back and down to cup her bottom, pulling her closer. She tangled her hands in his hair. "Mmmm," she murmured. "I think I know what you have in mind." He kissed her deeply, then pulled away. Taking her hand, he led her back to his bedroom.

###

He slowly unbuttoned her blouse. She caught her breath. This would be the first time he saw her scars. She hoped he didn't let them bother him. But when he saw her, he took his breath in sharply and looked in her eyes with sadness. She smiled at him encouragingly. "It's ok. I'm all healed. They're just scars."

He reached out and traced them gently. "I don't want to hurt you." As though he hadn't already. As though they hadn't hurt each other. They were finally past that, he knew. But this was the first time he'd really been faced with her physical hurt.

Rayna shook her head. "You won't. I'm not going to break." She reached out and unbuttoned his shirt and moved it open so she could run her hands down his chest. "I want you to love me, Deacon. The way you always do," she whispered hoarsely.

Deacon reached again for her blouse, pulling it out of her slacks. He pushed it off her shoulders and it drifted to the floor. He leaned in and nuzzled her neck, then let his tongue draw a line to her mouth. As he kissed her, drawing her tongue into his mouth, he ran his hands down her back to unfasten her bra, then dragged it off her so that he could run his hands over her breasts, rubbing his thumbs over her nipples, making Rayna draw her breath in as waves of desire swept through her body.

She reached between them and unbuckled his belt, then unzipped his jeans. She could feel him hard against her stomach and she slid her hands inside the waist of his boxers. She ran her hands over the length of him, until he moaned in her mouth. He pulled away from the kiss and moved his hands to her waist, unfastening her belt and sliding the zipper down slowly. He slid his hands around and down inside her pants to caress her bottom as she continued to stroke him until he nearly exploded. He quickly reached for her hands and kissed her lightly, gently biting her bottom lip. "Easy," he said gruffly.

Rayna laughed softly and then gasped as he slid her pants down and ran his thumb between her legs. She was already wet and he moaned as he felt how ready she was. He gently pushed her back towards the bed and she sat on the edge while he pulled off her boots and slid her pants the rest of the way off, all the while staring into her eyes. She took her breath in shakily, every nerve in her body screaming for his touch.

Deacon stood and quickly removed his own boots and jeans and then bent over and balanced himself with his hands on either side of her hips, leaning in to kiss her. She again reached for him, pulling gently, sliding her hand up and down until he put his knee on the bed. She released him so she could move slightly backward and laid on her back. He ran his hand over her thigh and then slid two fingers inside her, smiling down at her as she closed her eyes and parted her lips and made little moaning sounds.

"You're so beautiful, Ray," he murmured, watching her push against his hand. Then he pulled out and her eyes flew open.

"Don't stop," she said throatily.

He shook his head. "Oh, no, I want all of you, Ray. I want to feel you all around me."

She sat up, reaching for his face, pulling him towards her and kissing him deeply. She moved a little and he moved with her, lowering himself on top of her so she could feel him hard against her leg. She moved her legs to wrap them around his, inviting him to enter her. When he did, she let out a satisfied sigh, as he filled her and started moving inside her. She lifted her legs higher so that she could wrap them around his waist, allowing him to go deeper. This was what she had missed, this lovemaking that was so familiar to her and yet excited her beyond measure. She loved how he filled her up, how he knew just how to send her over the edge.

Deacon moaned against Rayna's neck and he moved his mouth to hers, kissing her with a passion that had built up over these past six months to a crescendo. He wanted to make it last, but he couldn't this time. This time. There would be many more times to build up slowly. As he lost control, he could feel her tighten up and then she threw back her head, calling his name out over and over.

###

Rayna felt her adrenaline start pumping as the car turned over. She could feel herself hitting the side of the car, the steering wheel, her arm flailing out and hitting Deacon beside her, screaming. Then it was quiet. She could feel for a moment incredible pain. She sensed a black fog coming over her and just as it closed over her, she looked to see Deacon. His eyes were closed, blood covering his face and dripping down towards the ceiling of the car.

Suddenly she awoke with a start. It was dark and she wasn't exactly sure where she was and her heart was pounding. She took in a deep breath as she tried to sort out what just happened.

"Ray?" She immediately turned towards the voice quietly saying her name and relief flooded her as she saw Deacon's face in the dark. "Are you ok?" He reached for her and she realized that she was lying in Deacon's bed in Deacon's house.

Rayna nodded. "Yeah, I'm ok."

"Are you sure? It seemed like maybe you were having a bad dream."

Rayna curled herself into him. "I was. The accident."

Deacon pulled her close and wrapped his arm around her. "God, girl, you're shaking." He kissed the top of her head. "You're ok now."

Her heart was still thudding in her chest. Tears sprang to her eyes and ran down her face. "It was so real," she whispered.

Deacon reached out and rubbed his thumb across her face, wiping away the tears he saw. His face was a mask of concern as he realized this probably wasn't the first time she'd had that dream. All he wanted to do was protect her, take the pain away, erase the memories.

Rayna pulled back to look in his face. "I wonder when I'll stop having that dream."

Deacon leaned in and kissed her lightly. "When you realize that it's over. That you're here, where you belong."

"I don't ever want to leave."

"You don't have to. Ever again. There's nothing that can take you away from me again."

Rayna reached up and stroked his face, running her thumb over his lips. "I love you so much."

As he rolled over on top of her, he whispered against her lips, "I know. I've always known that. And I love you too." She smiled and wrapped her arms around him, pulling him into her, letting him erase her pain and replace it with his love.

**And in the end - it's just Deacon and Rayna, together again. **

_**Special thanks to KarenES for beta-reading the sex scene for me. It really did seem like it needed that. To all of you who've read this, I hope you enjoyed it. I certainly enjoyed writing it. Now I can't wait to see how the show addresses all of this!**_


End file.
